A Painful Place
by Ginger4
Summary: <html><head></head>Until the outbreak, Matilda's biggest worries were job hunting and student loan debt. That was until the dead began to rise, and after over a year of surviving on the road with her best friend Lana and Lana's big brother Joseph they found themselves helplessly locked in a train car. Turns out, it wasn't the dead they needed to be afraid of.</html>
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Tilly! Tilly! Do you hear that?"

Tilly looked up from where she dozed in the train car at Lana, who had her face pressed against a crack in the wall.

"Huh?" She shoved a piece of long, red hair out of her face and rubbed her eyes. "No, I didn't hear-"

A gunshot rang out, a little too close to the train car for comfort.

Then another.

And another.

People were screaming.

"What do you see, Lana?" Tilly hopped up and ran to where her best friend stood as the gunshots continued.

"I… I can't see much, but there's definitely some chaos happening."

Tilly pushed her out of the way and pressed a blue eye to the crack. "Dammit, why can't this thing have a window or something? I can't see- Hey! Hey, help!" she called as she saw the flash of someone running past.

She felt a large hand quickly cover her mouth and spun around to see Lana's brother Joseph.

"Till, shut up! We don't know who is out there."

"Well, if it's one of the Termites they aren't going to give a shit if we're yelling. It's nothing new to them, but if it's someone else we need to let them know we're in here."

"You think some white hats rode in the save the day?" Lana jabbed.

"Shut up and start yelling!" Tilly ordered.

"Can't do both, Till-"

"Just do it!" Tilly cut Joseph off.

The three of them began banging on the side of the car and yelling as loud as they could manage after nearly two days without food or water.

"Hello?" They heard a gruff man's voice from outside of the car.

"Hey! Yeah! Those fuckers locked us in here!" Lana yelled.

"Yo, Rick! There are still folk in these train cars! We can't run off and leave them here," they heard the voice call to someone else in his group.

"No time, Daryl! Let's go!"

"He's right, Rick! We have to get them out!" It was a woman's voice this time.

"Shit," Rick sighed, "Alright, just hurry."

A moment later, they heard a bang and a few obscenities as the people outside began to pry the door open. It slid open with a loud creak, and Tilly, Lana and Joseph were momentarily blinded by something they hadn't seen in a while: Sunlight.

Tilly lead the way, running toward the door as she squinted and shielded her eyes from the light with her left hand. She misjudged the distance to the door and quickly found herself falling, rather than walking, out of the door.

A strong arm reached out and caught her before she face-planted in the dirt and she looked up, gaze locking with a man with dirty, long brown hair and blue eyes. His face was bruised and covered in blood, his or someone else's, she didn't know.

They both froze as she stood off- balance with his arm around her, his other grasping a crossbow.

Lana and Joseph made much more graceful exits, and took off in the direction all of the new escapees of Terminus were headed.

"Till!" Lana yelled, "Tilly! Come on!"

Tilly and the man quickly pulled away from each other, and he grabbed her arm to guide her toward the others. "C'mon. We gotta run."

So they ran.

Tilly could see Lana and Joseph ahead in the small crowd as Daryl continued to drag her by the arm. The gunfire hadn't stopped, and she watched in horror as people dropped all around her.

"Stay low," Daryl ordered, and they crouched as best as they could while they sprinted.

She heard a scream ahead of her. She knew that voice. Tilly lifted her head and her fears were confirmed when she saw Lana was the source.

"NO!" Tilly shrieked. Joseph lay at Lana's feet, blood cascading from his head. Lana barely had time to begin weeping before a large red headed man with goatee ran and scooped her up.

"No time, sweetheart," he told her as he took off running, Lana's sobbing form bobbing in his arms.

Tears rolled down Tilly's face. She couldn't even feel her legs anymore, but they carried her along rapidly as Daryl continued to drag her toward the woods. "We have to go back! Joseph!" Tilly yelled as they crossed into the trees and slowed a little.

"No point," Daryl responded. She tried to pull her arm away, but he held on tighter forcing her to continue forward. "I'm real sorry about your friend, but he's dead." She opened her mouth to protest, but she knew he was right.

They jogged for a few more minutes until the gunshots faded. The Termites, the surviving ones anyway, didn't seem to be following them.

Daryl pulled her behind a tree and sat her down at its base as the group ahead of them stopped. "Want me to get your friend?" he asked her, a look of sympathy on his face.

Tilly nodded. Now that the adrenaline had faded she wasn't sure her voice even worked.

"What was he to you?" he asked before leaving.

"My... my..." she croaked, "my big brother. I mean, my best friend's big brother, but he-"

"I get it," Daryl patted her on the shoulder. "Lost my big brother not long ago, but I know family ain't always blood. I'm sorry."

He stood and walked toward Lana's savior. "Hey, Abraham!" The redheaded man turned, Lana still in his arms. Daryl looked at Lana and nodded toward Tilly.

Abraham seemed to understand and brought Lana over. "Oh, Matilda!" Lana cried when she saw her friend. Tilly wrapped both of her arms around her and they clung to each other as they sobbed.

When she finally regained her breath, Tilly lifted her head to look around as she wiped her face with her sleeve. The crowd that began running from Terminus had dwindled down to barely more than ten.

So many dead. Joseph was gone. But they survived.

"We survived."


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, it's time to regroup." A slim man with curly brown hair stepped forward.

"Ah, that's the guy who wanted to leave us, " Tilly whispered to Lana. "Rick, was it?"

Lana sniffed and nodded at her friend. "Yeah, I think so."

Rick continued, "Are we all here?" He turned his head, looking over the small group.

Tilly looked to her left and saw a young Korean man running his hands over the shoulders of a pretty brunette, scanning her for any injuries. "Yeah, seems like it, " he answered.

Rick shot a quick glance at Tilly and Lana before turning to face an older woman with short, gray hair.

"Carol," he said, eyes wide. "How did you find us? I thought-"

"I did, Rick, " she interrupted. "I left, just like you told me to." The gasps of the majority of the group were audible.

_He made her leave? Kicked her out of the group?_

Daryl took a step between Rick and Carol, "What's she talking about, Rick? Told her to leave?"

Rick raised his hand to shush Daryl and he batted it away, stepping closer to the leader.

Carol put a hand on Daryl's shoulder, pulling him back from Rick, and he turned to face her. "Daryl," she said softly, "it's alright."

"Ain't alright!" Daryl yelled, looking back at Rick.

"Look, brother, I was on my way to tell you when the Governor rolled to our gates."

"Don't matter, man, you sent her out there to die? What gives you the righ-"

"No, no, he had to, " Carol lowered her head and glanced at the tall black man standing beside her.

"Anyone going to explain what the hell is going on, or are we just gonna stand around and glare at each other all afternoon?" Abraham spoke up.

Carol took a deep breath before turning to face the group. "I killed Karen and David."

"What?" Daryl backed away from Rick and turned to face her, his voice full of disbelief.

"Tyreese…" Rick began, addressing the man beside Carol.

Tyreese held up his hand. "I know, Rick. She was the first person I ran into after I escaped the prison. It was just me, Judith, Lizzie and Mika. She saved the girls when I ran off to fight some walkers. She told me about it after…" he trailed off, rethinking what he was about to say. "She told me a few days later. Said she did it to keep the virus from spreading."

"Didn't work too well, now, did it?" Rick snapped.

"No, " Tyreese answered. "No, it didn't, but I understand. I'll never agree with what she did, but I've forgiven her. She's saved my life, and Judith's. We've all had blood on our hands at one time or another. She made a call. It was the wrong one," Tyreese took a deep breath, "but at least she tried."

Tilly stared on as the rest of the group remained silent. _Is this a group I really want to be around? Killing each other? What virus?_

Rick rubbed his chin, taking in what Tyreese said. "I made a call, too. When we went on that run before the attack, I loaded a car with supplies and told her to leave. I don't want a murderer around my children."

"We're all murderers, Dad," a teenage boy in a large brown hat stepped forward, clutching a little girl to his chest. _Rick's son._

"I… Carl," Rick stammered, trying to find the right words.

"No, Dad. Like Tyreese said, we've all done things, killed the living, to protect each other. It's how we've survived this long."

Tilly looked over at Lana, who was still completely out of it. 

"He's right, Rick," a tall woman with a katana stepped next to the boy. "I'm not justifying what Carol did, but as much as she contributed to the group you owed it to her to at least bring it before the council before you sent her off to die."

"But she didn't _die_, "Rick retorted. "I knew she could survive on her own, and I did it as much to protect her from Ty as to protect us." He pointed at Tyreese, "You nearly killed _me_ when you found Karen's body, I didn't want to think about what you would do to Carol."

No one in the group had anything to say to that.

"Did anyone else know?" Daryl asked.

There was a pause before the brunette spoke up. "I did," she admitted.

"Maggie?" the man stopped rubbing her shoulders and stared at her.

"Glenn, it all just happened so fast. I opened the gate for Rick when he came back from that run. I asked where Carol was and he told me everything." She looked at Carol, "I'm sorry, Carol, but I understood why he did it. You know we care about you, but it was the best for everyone."

Carol nodded in understanding. _How is she so calm about all of this?_

"Alright, " Glenn began, "so what happens next? Are you going to send her back out there on her own again?"

Rick looked at Tyreese, then back to Carol, "No. Carl was right when he said that we all do whatever is necessary to protect the group. You're one of us. You brought Judith back to me. You stay. We can't afford to lose anyone else."

"What about us?" Tilly stood, gaining the full attention of the group. They had seemingly forgotten about the outsiders in the midst of the situation with Carol. "We're not really 'one of you,' so what happens now?"

"Why don't we start with names and go from there," Daryl responded.

"Well, I'm Tilly and th-"

Daryl scoffed, "What kinda parents name their kid Tilly?"

"What kinda parents name their kid Daryl?" He tensed up a little at the mention of his parents. "My parents _named_ me Matilda. They _call_… called me Tilly." She cleared her throat and continued, "This is my best friend Lana. She just lost her brother back there, so I can't imagine she's up for chatting much right now."

"Sorry about your brother," Glenn offered. Lana just gave him a nod and went back to staring at her boots, tears still running down her cheeks.

"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, how many walkers have you killed?"

"Well," Matilda paused, "I lost count a couple of months after all of this shit went down. Hundreds, I'd imagine. Maybe more. Do any of you really keep track of that kind of thing?"

Rick ignored her question. "How many people have you killed?"

"Four," she answered without hesitation.

"Why?" Daryl beat Rick to the final question.

She cast a glance at Lana, "Because nobody fucks with my best friend and gets to live."


	3. Chapter 3

Rick raised an eyebrow as he studied Tilly's resolute face for a long moment.

"Alright," he nodded. "But you try anything, _anything_ stupid and I will not hesitate to put a bullet in your head."

"Got it, boss," Tilly replied, and went to help Lana off of the ground.

"What's the plan, now?" Glenn asked. "Where do we go?"

"We head toward DC," Abraham barked. "We gotta get Eugene up there so we can put an end to all this mess." He gestured toward a man sporting a mullet and a cargo vest.

"And what exactly does Billy Ray over here know about all of this?" Tilly pried.

"For your information, _ma'am_, I happen to be a scientist, and I know exactly what caused this outbreak and how to stop it," he answered.

"Care to share with the class?" Tilly wasn't buying it.

"It's classified," he snapped. "I've been communicating with officials through my sate- shit! My satellite phone! They took it when they shoved us in the train car. We have to go back!"

"No need," a young woman with dark hair and a crop top stepped forward, holding out something that resembled a brick more than a phone. "Grabbed it when I ran inside to find my gun."

"You're a lifesaver, Rosita," he thanked her. "If there's ever any way I can _repay_ your kindness just let m- _oof!" _Abraham elbowed him in the gut before he finished his sentence.

_Look at that, _Tilly thought, _a love triangle. _

Rick shook his head and held up a hand. "We can talk about DC later, but we need somewhere to hunker down for a few days while we come up with a plan."

"What about the farm?" Carol suggested.

"Yeah," Glenn agreed, "when we went back to bring what livestock were left to the prison it was clear."

Daryl spoke up, "It'll probably take us a day or two to get there, but I don't think that's a terrible plan. Hershel stuck some food and water in the basement before the heard came through. It's probably still there. Should last us a few days."

At the mention of Hershel's name, the group suddenly became more somber. Tilly looked over to Maggie and saw that she and Glenn both had tears in their eyes.

"Who is Hershel?" Lana had finally found her voice.

"Hershel is Maggie's father," Rick replied. "We were attacked while we were living in the prison and he was killed. He held us together, made us better. It was a big loss for our group." There was sorrow in his voice. "We were all separated after the attack and were on the road until we made it to Terminus." Tilly could have sworn Rick's lip was quivering. "I guess we haven't had time to mourn his loss yet."

"We should have a service," the woman with the katana suggested, "you know, when we get to the farm."

"Absolutely, Michonne," Rick nodded. "It's what he would want."

"We need a map," Glenn offered. "I don't think any of us know how to get back to the farm from here."

"There are signs hung all along the tracks with maps to Terminus," Tilly suggested.

Daryl nodded his head, "Good thinking. Those maps cover a pretty huge area, so we should be able to find it."

Then it was time to move. The group trudged toward the tracks in search of a map. What should have been an easy mile-long walk felt like it took ages to Tilly. After the craziness of the escape and losing Joseph she was beyond exhausted. A quick look at Lana proved she felt the same.

"Hey, you alright?" Tilly asked.

"You already know the answer to that," Lana replied.

"I know it's rough. I know you're exhausted and sad and a million other things right now, but we need to pull it together. Put on a brave face. We don't know these people, and we can't afford to appear weak. They don't really seem like the type to hurt us, but they could very well leave us behind if they think we're holding them back."

"Ain't gonna leave you guys, " she jumped when she heard Daryl's voice behind her. He had been in the rear of the group keeping watch while Rick led.

"Did Rick stick you back here to eavesdrop on our conversations?" Tilly accused.

"To be honest, yeah." Even as they spoke, his eyes never stopped scanning the area around them. "We don't know ya'll from Adam, and after what happened at the prison we can't be too quick to trust anyone."

"What happened at the prison?" Lana asked. "If you don't mind talking about it, of course."

"The short version? Some bastard started himself a town, Woodbury, called himself Governor. Real charmin' guy, but evil to the core. He caused all kinds of trouble, kidnapped Glenn and Maggie… and me. Tried to kill Michonne, but she took out his eye. He killed my brother and most of the people in Woodbury. We took in the survivors and he disappeared for a while. We thought he was gone."

Tilly watched him attentively as he recounted their experience with the Governor. "Turns out he'd been watching us for months. Found himself some new followers. He wanted what we had. Showed up at our gates with a tank, and Hershel and Michonne as hostages. Rick told him we weren't leaving, and he took Michonne's sword to Hershel's neck. All Hell broke loose after that. We got separated, but all found our way to Terminus. You know the rest."

"Shit, a tank?" Tilly was shocked. "God, I'm sorry. Did you kill him?"

"Nah," Daryl shook his head, "I didn't. Michonne says she got him through the heart, though. Safe to say he's rotting in Hell right now, or at least wandering around looking for someone to eat."

He looked at Tilly and they locked eyes. "Good," she said.

Their gaze lingered a moment too long, and Tilly reached out and grabbed Daryl's arm as he tripped over the tracks. She didn't have the strength to hold him up, and they both landed on the ground, Tilly's face smashing against his chest.

"Ya'll alright?" Lana stifled a chuckle.

Tilly put her hands on the ground to push herself up, then held out a hand to help Daryl. "Yeah," she said as he took her hand and she pulled him to his feet, "I'm good. You?" She looked to Daryl.

"I'm alright, just need to pay a little more attention to where I'm stepping, 'stead of having story time." His face turned serious, and Tilly could tell she wasn't going to get anything else out of him. He didn't seem to handle embarrassment well.

The group walked in near-silence for a while longer before Rick stopped and turned to address them. "That's enough for today," he said. "We only have a couple hours of light left, so I think we should make camp here. There's a map just up ahead. I'll grab it and we can figure out which way to go in the morning. Daryl, you mind going out and hunting a bit?"

"Nah," he answered, "I got it."

"Good. Don't go far, and make sure you're back before dark. Take Tilly with you."

"What?" Tilly was a little surprised. "Why do you want me to go?"

"Cause if you're going to be part of this group you need to contribute."

"You got a gun?" Daryl asked.

"No. I used to, but it's still somewhere in Terminus, I'm sure. I have a knife."

Daryl nodded, "Good enough. You know how to use it?"

"Would I have survived this long if I didn't?" She was mildly offended by his skepticism of her abilities.

Tilly looked back to Lana, nervous to leave her alone with these strangers. "You alright to stay here?" she asked her friend.

"Yeah, " Lana replied. "I'll be fine."

"We'll take care of her," Tyreese assured.

Tilly thought for a moment, then looked at Daryl, "Ok, then. We hunt."

"Let's see what ya got, Red," he challenged, and they walked toward the woods.


	4. Chapter 4

"You seem to have a habit of fallin' down," Daryl teased as they entered the tree line. "How are you supposed to catch us any food if you can't even stay upright?"

He seemed to have gotten over his embarrassment earlier and had returned to being friendly. Well, as friendly as Daryl got.

"I do perfectly fine staying upright when I've eaten recently," she replied defiantly. "I'm surprised my legs still work at all. And, if I remember correctly, you contributed to that last fall."

Daryl scanned the area as they talked. He wasn't about to make the same mistake he did earlier, especially when he was on a mission to feed the group.

"Anyway," Tilly continued, "Rick sending me out here, is this just another ploy for you to make sure I'm not a psycho?"

"You ain't stupid, girl, I'll give you that."

"Why don't you just go ahead and tell me what you want to know," Tilly wasn't in the mood for bullshitting. If they needed information in order to trust her, she would give it to them. She didn't have anything to hide, not compared to anyone else anyway.

"What did you do before all of this?" he asked, before suddenly raising a hand, signaling her to be quiet as he spotted a rabbit. He raised his crossbow and shot an arrow through the creature's head. After he collected his kill and checked that there were no other animals in sight he looked at her, letting her know she could speak.

"I looked for jobs, mostly. Got a degree in electrical engineering a few years ago, but steady work was hard to find where I lived. I made most of my money doing odd-electrical work for businesses around town. I had lined up an interview for a real full-time job, but the outbreak happened before I could go. Ain't that just my luck?"

"That's closer to a real job than I ever got," he shared.

"What did you do, then?" Tilly asked.

"Ain't here to talk about me." He regretted revealing anything about himself at all. She hadn't earned his trust yet.

"Alright, what else do you need to know?"

"How do you know Lana? You know her before this?"

"I've known her for as long as I can remember," Tilly replied. "Our mothers were best friends, and it kind of just carried on with us. She's my sister, as far as I'm concerned."

"You have any other family?" he asked.

"Yes, I did," Tilly didn't want to elaborate on that. Over a year later she still couldn't talk about what had happened when this whole thing started.

Daryl got the hint and decided not to pry into that at the moment. "How old are you?" he asked instead.

"Don't you know you're never supposed to ask a lady her age?"

Daryl shot her a look.

Tilly chuckled, "I'm 27. I think. Who really knows when their birthday is anymore? Lana is a month older than me, almost exactly. Is that it?" she sighed, beginning to wish she could focus on hunting instead of playing twenty questions.

"You told Rick you've killed four people. Care to elaborate on that?"

Tilly rubbed her forehead. "I don't care to tell you, but it's a long story. Maybe we should take a break and find somewhere to rest for a minute."

Daryl nodded and they found a downed tree to serve as a bench. Daryl pulled a water bottle he had nabbed from Terminus out of his pack, took a swig, then offered it to her. She took it gratefully and downed a bit.

"I'm not exactly sure where to start," she said.

"Just start at the beginning. We'll just watch for animals while we sit here, so we've got time." He sat looking out at the woods.

Tilly took a deep breath and began. "A couple of months after everything went to shit, Lana, Joseph and I ran into another group of people. Men, maybe 6 or 7 of them. Back then we were too stupid to realize that when there is no one to keep them in check people can be even more dangerous than the geeks."

Daryl nodded knowingly, but kept his eyes on the forest.

"Everything was fine for a couple of days. We holed up in an old factory somewhere outside of Memphis. We were on our way south from western Kentucky, and those guys offered to help us make it down here if we stayed there for a bit first. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turns out those men had no intention of traveling with us. They weren't even going to let us out of the factory."

Daryl turned to look at her for a moment as she continued.

"Lana and I were the only women in the group, but we were confident we could handle ourselves, especially having Joseph with us." Daryl saw Tilly's eyes sparkle a little with tears as she thought of her lost friend.

"The third night we were there, Joseph was keeping watch as we slept. They ambushed him. Knocked him out. All of the noise woke us up, but it was too late by then. They rushed us. I'm sure you can tell where this is going," Tilly looked at Daryl.

"Yeah," Daryl replied, "I have an idea." He turned his eyes back to the woods, waiting for her to confirm what he was thinking.

"There was one man in particular, the leader, Ron," she spat his name out. "He had me pinned underneath him. I told him that they could have me. Do whatever they wanted, and I wouldn't resist as long as they let Lana go. She's a tough chick, but she has a bit of a history with abuse, and I wasn't about to let her go through it again."

Daryl couldn't help but respect the woman after hearing this. Anyone who was willing to do such a thing to save someone else was alright with him. He had a feeling they didn't take her up on the deal, though.

Tilly paused for a moment to gather her thoughts before she continued. "He just laughed in my face. He had his men tie up Lana and Joseph, and they made Lana watch as they… As they _did_ things to me. I fought them, but that just seemed to make the whole thing more fun for them. They took turns beating me, raping me," her voice cracked a bit. "I stopped fighting after a while, because I knew that when they were done with me they would do the same to Lana."

"They didn't bother tying me up when they had each had a turn. They thought I was done-for, and they just left me in the floor like trash. They were wrong, though. I wasn't done, not nearly. They all turned their attention to Lana. Started taunting her, telling her that they hoped she liked what she saw because she was next."

By this point, Daryl had given up looking for prey and had his full attention on Tilly.

"How did you manage to kill them?" Daryl asked. "Weren't they armed?"

Tilly nodded, "They all had some sort of weapon, but lucky for me only Ron had a gun. I knew that if we were going to get out of there that gun was my only hope."

"I'm surprised you were able to think that clearly after-," Daryl stopped, not wanting to repeat the things that had happened to her.

Tilly shook her head. "I wasn't thinking clearly. That just seemed common sense to me. I was acting on rage. I was angry about what had happened to me, I was injured pretty badly, but I wasn't going to let them do it to her. It wasn't an option. When they'd all turned their attention to Lana, I was able to get behind Ron. My knife was still in my boot. They were too stupid to take it away from me. I stuck it through the back of his neck."

_Ballsy, _Daryl thought.

"When he fell, I grabbed his gun and told them to untie Lana. They did it, and she was able to untie Joseph, who was finally awake. One of those bastards had the nerve to tell me to 'lighten up, we were just having a little fun!' And that was the breaking point. I shot him in the forehead. Then another, and another. Joseph was awake long enough to have heard them talking about the things they were going to do to Lana, the things they'd done to me. He took care of the rest of them."

"Damn," Daryl wasn't exactly sure what to say. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Tilly replied. "It happened. It's over. We all made it out. We don't get to dwell on things like that anymore. If you let something like that stay in your head, affect you, you're going to end up getting yourself killed."

Daryl could only nod in response. "Starting to get dark," he said as he stood. "We should head back, see if we can kill anything else along the way."

Tilly stood to follow him. "So, you going to tell Rick I'm some kind of crazy killer now?"

"Nah," Daryl said. _I'm going to tell him you're the toughest person I've ever met. _


	5. Chapter 5

When Tilly and Daryl made it back to the group, hauling the rabbit he shot and three squirrels they killed on the way back, the rest of them were gathered around a small fire in the center of the tracks discussing their plans for tomorrow.  
>Carol got up and approached them. "I'll go get those ready," she offered, reaching for the animals.<br>Daryl stepped backward. "Nah, I got it. C'mon, Tilly, I'll teach you how to skin 'em."  
>Carol looked a little hurt, but just retreated back to the group while Tilly and Daryl sat away from the group to prep the meat.<br>They worked for a few minutes, Daryl giving her careful instructions on where to cut them, before Rick walked over. "Daryl, can I have a word?" he asked.  
>"Can you handle this for a minute?" Daryl asked Tilly.<br>"Yeah," she answered, "I think I've got it."

Rick led Daryl out of earshot of Tilly and the group, crossing his arms as he stopped in front of the hunter. "So, what do you think?"  
>"She'll be an asset," he said.<br>"She tell you more about who she killed?"  
>"Yeah," Daryl answered, but didn't elaborate.<br>"Well?" Rick pried.  
>"Bunch of guys attacked her and her friends, raped Tilly and beat her up real good. When they went to do the same to Lana, she attacked them. Killed four of them, and Lana's brother took down the last couple of them."<br>"Shit, four of them at once?" Rick rubbed his chin, considering what Daryl had just told him. "Sounds like she could be dangerous."  
>"Nah," Daryl shook his head. "Loyal as fuck. Those two have been friends their whole lives. Tilly offered herself to those men in exchange for letting Lana go. Didn't work out that way, but she stuck her neck out for her big time. I say we let her into the fold, help her get to know everyone, and I think she'd be willing to do the same for any of us."<br>Rick put his hand on Daryl's shoulder and nodded. If there was anyone's judgment he trusted it was Daryl's. "Alright. Think you can handle getting her acclimated? If you got her to talk, chances are she is starting to trust you. See if you can build on that."  
>"You got it." And with that Daryl turned to go help Tilly finish with the animals.<p>

His eyes grew wide at what he saw in front of him. "Walkers!" he yelled. "Tilly! Behind you!"  
>The three biters were only about ten feet behind her. She dropped the squirrel she was skinning and turned around, knife raised. Daryl sprinted toward her, snatching his crossbow from the ground where he left it. The rest of the group had also risen to their feet and a few of them ran in the direction of the walkers.<br>Tilly approached the closest walker, annihilating his knee with her boot, then climbed on top of him and stuck her knife in his eye. She jerked it back out quickly, ready for the next one. As she grabbed it by the collar and shoved her knife into it's forehead she saw an arrow fly past her and into the face of the last walker.  
>Lana came running over. "Tills, you alright?"<br>"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she reassured her friend. "Wouldn't be a bad idea for a few of us to walk the tracks a bit though and make sure there aren't anymore before we get settled in."  
>She looked to Rick for confirmation. "I think that's a good idea. You and Daryl, check that way," he said, pointing in the direction they came from. "Ty, Michonne, you two walk ahead." Tyreese and Michonne grabbed their weapons, a hammer and katana respectively, and started off.<p>

"Why does Rick keep sending me off with you instead of handling it himself? Seems like he's the ultimate judge here," Tilly asked Daryl as they walked along the tracks.  
>"He has a lot of other stuff to handle," he explained. "I don't mind taking some of the load."<br>She elbowed him in the ribs. "Oh, so now I'm a load, huh?" He stepped back, putting his hand where she had jabbed him as she laughed.  
>"Keep hitting me and I'll load you off into them woods and leave ya for walker bait."<br>"I'm fairly confident you wouldn't be able to manage that without losing a limb," she challenged.  
><em>Am I flirting with him?<em> Tilly thought. _Get it together, Tills._  
>He just scoffed at her and continued walking, clearly not threatened.<br>"So what's the verdict?" she asked. "Rick going to keep a babysitter on me at all times or are we past that?"  
>"Ain't babysitting ya," he offered. "Just trying to figure out how you can fit in within the group, where your strengths lie. And your weaknesses."<br>_Why am I telling her all of this?_ He wondered. _This girl is still a stranger._  
>"Think you have me all figured out yet?" she asked, curious as to what these people really thought of her so far.<br>Daryl shook his head and she could have sworn she saw a small smile pull at one corner of his mouth. "Not yet."

Suddenly, he felt her elbow in his side again. "Shit woman, thought I told you to-"  
>"Shhh!" she interrupted. "Walkers." She pointed to the edge of the woods where two corpses were wandering their way. "I'll take the one on the right."<br>The pair made quick work of the walkers.  
>"Think we need to go any farther?" she questioned.<br>Daryl turned around to gage how far they were from camp. "I think this is good," he said. "We'll just walk the tree line on the way back, make sure there aren't anymore hiding in there."  
>"Sounds good," she agreed. "Ya know, I think we make a pretty good team. Daryl and Tilly: Walker Slayers," she stretched her hands in front of her, making an imaginary marquee. "Maybe they'll make a movie about us someday," she laughed. "Who do you think would play me?"<br>"That's a hard question to answer when most of the actors we know are probably walkers themselves," he said dryly.  
>"Alright, jerkface, go on and spoil my fun," she crossed her arms in mock-anger.<br>"Jerkface?" he laughed. "Are you 12?" He reached over and nudged her arm, urging her to start walking. "C'mon, let's get back to camp and cook up those squirrels, this _jerkface_ is starving."


	6. Chapter 6

Tilly was more than a little surprised that Rick asked her to take first watch that night. Though the only person she had really spoken to at length was Daryl, it seemed they were beginning to trust her.

_If he has that much influence they must really respect him, _she thought as she sat on a large rock beside the tracks, shotgun in her lap.

"What's on your mind, lady?" Lana asked. She had volunteered to keep watch with her friend, mostly so they could finally have some time to talk about the events of the day.

Tilly picked the gun up off of her lap and leaned it against the side of the rock. "I'm just trying to make sense of everything right now. Terminus, these people… It's just a lot all at once."

"You're tellin' me," Lana nodded. "They seem like decent people, though. I had plenty of time to talk to them since Rick had you running off with Mr. Crossbow all day. You didn't seem to mind much, though." Lana grinned at Tilly.

"It's not like that, you loser," Tilly cast a sideways glance at her. "The last thing I'm concerned about right now is finding a new boyfriend."

"It may be dark, but I can still see you blushing," Lana teased. She was right, not that it took much to turn Tilly's pale face red. "He's cute though, right? You might be in warrior princess mode, but you still have eyes."

Tilly sighed, "Yes. Ok? Yes, he's cute."

"He didn't argue with taking you out in the woods eith-"

"You better drop it unless you want me to tell everyone that the real reason you're staying up with me is because you snore so loud you'd draw geeks for miles," Tilly threatened.

Lana laughed and raised her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, don't blow my cover."

"_Anyway,_" Tilly sighed, "why don't you give me the low-down on the rest of the group. I still don't think I've met everyone."

Lana turned toward where the group members slept and pointed to everyone as she filled Tilly in. "That's Glenn, he and Maggie are together, but I'm sure you noticed that. Your fellow ginger over there is Abraham, he's with Rosita and they're trying to get Eugene to Washington because apparently he's smarter than that haircut would lead you to believe."

The girls both chuckled quietly.

"Tyreese is over there, he and Sasha are brother and sister. There's Bob, he's a medic."

"Very useful nowadays," Tilly added.

"Very." Lana continued, "You've met Carol. Rick's son and daughter are over there, Carl and Judith. And your fellow she-warrior over there is Michonne. I think that's everyone."

Tilly pointed back toward a sleeping form Lana had skipped over, "Who's that girl with the short hair?"

"Oh, sorry, that's Tara."

Tilly couldn't help but notice that she was sleeping a little farther away from the others. "What's her story?"

"I'm not really sure," Lana answered, "but Glenn met her on the way to Terminus. She's a little bit of an outsider too, I guess."

"At least we're not the only new kids."

The next few hours continued uneventfully, Lana eventually resigning to her exhaustion and leaving to get some rest. "Sleep on your side so you don't wake the dead!" Tilly called after her as she left.

"Little late for that!" Lana replied, flipping her off as she walked toward an empty spot in the middle of the group.

After that, Tilly sat in silence with her thoughts, trying to make sense of her current situation. She had only been with Lana and Joseph since the incident in Memphis. They had come across a couple of other groups since, but had done their best to avoid contact, scared to trust anyone. They had gone toward Terminus out of desperation. They were out of food, running low on water, and they were starting to lose hope. When they saw the signs they thought they had found their safe haven.

_We were wrong, though, _Tilly thought as she remembered the events leading up to their rescue. _We were so, so wrong, and it cost us Joseph. _

Lana hadn't wanted to talk about Joseph when Tilly brought it up. She was either in denial or had just accepted that that was the hazard of living in this world. It was hard to tell. Whichever, she seemed to be taking Tilly's advice about putting on a brave face to heart and she was proud of her friend for staying strong.

"Mind if I keep you company?" Tilly jumped and automatically reached for her gun at the sound of the soft voice behind her.

"Oh, sorry," she said once she turned around, relaxing and placing the shotgun back beside the rock. "Of course, Carol." She scooted over to give Carol somewhere to sit, thankful for the chance to talk to the woman.

"It never gets easier to get a good night's sleep out here," Carol said, attempting to make small talk.

Tilly nodded, but she wasn't one to beat around the bush. She had questions, and Carol seemed like the one to answer them.

"Hey Carol, back in the woods everyone was talking about a virus. It didn't seem like they were talking about the outbreak. Was there something else?"

Carol nodded. "About a week before the Governor attacked there was an outbreak of some kind of flu in the prison. It wiped out nearly all of the people we had taken in from Woodbury. We almost lost Sasha and Glenn, too."

"And you tried to stop it?"

Carol's eyes grew wide, seemingly surprised Tilly was being so forward. "Yes," she answered. "The first two people to come down with it were Tyreese's girlfriend Karen and a man from Woodbury named David."

_That explains why Rick looked to Tyreese when making the decision to let her back in._

She took a deep breath and continued, "We quarantined them in the tombs but I knew it would still get out. They were both near death anyway, and someone needed to do something to protect the rest of us. I killed them both while they slept and burned the bodies."

Tilly studied the woman's face, taking in her story. She didn't look ashamed of what she had done. Her face was strong and resolved. She didn't regret her decision.

"Obviously it spread anyway, and when Rick found out it was me who killed them he sent me out on my own. I understand why, but I'd do it all over again if I thought it would help."

"You did the right thing," Tilly said, surprising the older woman. "You can't hesitate or wait for approval when it comes to protecting the people you love."

A small smile crossed Carol's lips. "You and I, Tilly, I think we're a lot alike."

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because you understand that what happens to your family is more important than what happens to you. These people are my family. I have a feeling they'll become yours soon enough."

Tilly smiled, and Carol placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze before heading back to her makeshift bed.


	7. Chapter 7

_"Honey, I'm home!" Tilly called as she shut the door to her apartment and placed her keys on the hook. _

_"Oh, thank God!" Lana rushed her and wrapped her in a hug. "I've been trying to call you all morning!"_

_Tilly pushed her friend back to arm's length, "I'm fine, Lan. I was just installing some light fixtures for Mrs. Harding at the bakery."_

_"So you haven't seen the news?" Lana's eyes grew wide, and she drug Tilly toward the living room after she shook her head no._

_The television was blaring, and as Tilly stepped in front of it she suddenly understood her friend's panic. _

_"Unofficial death tolls are in the thousands at this time," the newscaster announced, her hair disheveled and eyes bloodshot, like she had been up all night. A bright red chyron flashed at the bottom of the screen. _'Breaking News: Infection has spread worldwide'

_"Holy shit," Tilly declared, "I thought they said they had that all contained just the other day."_

_"Apparently not," Lana replied. "The local news was reporting cases of it in Paducah this morning, but they've been off-air for a couple of hours now. You don't think…"_

_"That they got hit?" Tilly finished. "God, I hope not. That's less than an hour from here."_

_Lana reached over and flipped off the TV. "Did you see anything in town while you were out?"_

_"No," Tilly shook her head. "Everything seemed pretty normal. Fewer people out than usual, maybe, but that's it."_

_Tilly went to the kitchen, poured each of them a cup of coffee, then walked over to the living room window after giving Lana her cup. The streets were all but empty, which was a little unusual, but with what she saw on the news she figured people had just decided to be cautious and stay inside. _

_As she sipped the warm liquid, something caught her eye just east of their apartment. _

_"Looks like Tyler has been day drinking again," Tilly announced. She knew the teenager from the gas station where he worked. It wasn't uncommon for him to show up to work drunk or stoned, but he was a nice enough kid as far as she was concerned. _

_Lana walked over to join her at the window, laughing at the sight of the boy stumbling down the sidewalk. _

_"Didn't you make out with him once?" Tilly teased._

_"Fuck no!" Lana replied defensively. "He's like 19, Tills. You're thinking of his older brother."_

_Tilly laughed, "Ah, yeah. Wasn't he the one who sent you flowers?"_

_Lana shook her head at the memory, "That dude was nuts. I let him get to second base once and all of a sudden the dude is sending me flowers and blowing up my phone. What a psycho." _

_As the girls reminisced, they saw a woman walk out of a house a block from where Tyler was. She had a large purse draped over one arm, and was holding the hand of a little boy with her other. All of a sudden, Tyler's head whipped toward the two of them. His mouth fell open and he began to shamble quickly toward them. _

_"Something isn't right," Tilly said, panic in her voice. "Lana, I don't think he's drunk."_

_"The infection," Lana whispered. _

_They heard a piercing scream come from the woman as she noticed Tyler approaching. The girls looked out of the window and saw their first glimpse of what would soon be their new reality. Tyler's teeth were sunk deep into the arm of the woman as she tried to fight him off. He pulled his mouth away, taking a chunk of her flesh with it and chewing it like it was a gourmet steak. _

_Tilly sprinted toward her bedroom and came back holding a baseball bat in her right hand. _

_"What are you doing?" Lana yelled._

_Tilly ran toward the door, pausing to answer her friend. "I'm helping."_

_She slammed the door behind her, leaving a stunned Lana in their apartment. _

_When Tilly made it over to the woman she was weakly pounding Tyler with her purse, but he maintained a death grip on her arm. Her little boy clung desperately to her other arm, eyes wide with shock. When he saw Tilly running toward them with the bat, he let out a scream. _

_At the sound of the shriek, Tyler dropped the arm of the boy's now-limp mother and moved to grab him. _

_"No!" Tilly yelled. "Tyler, stop!" She ran as fast as she could toward the boy, but no matter how fast she went they seemed to only get farther away. Tears ran down her face, and she watched helplessly as Tyler sunk his teeth into the neck of the terrified child. _

_All she could do was scream at the sight in front of her. Her feet still pounded the pavement but got her nowhere._

_"Tilly!" She heard, and felt something grab her arm. She jerked it away quickly and began swinging her bat with all of her might. "Matilda! Stop it!"_

"Matilda! Stop it!" Daryl yelled, hands wrapped around Tilly's biceps. He shook her harder. "Tilly, it's a dream! You have to be quiet!"

The next thing he knew, Tilly's foot connected with his stomach and he let go of her arms as he fell backward. Tilly sat up with a start, breathing heavily.

"Oh, shit. Oh, my God." There was sweat dripping down her forehead as she finally became aware of her surroundings. She wasn't in the street outside her former apartment, but lying in the middle of the railroad tracks. She noticed Daryl sitting on the ground in front of her, rubbing his stomach and she realized what had happened.

"Fuck, Daryl, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I thought you were-"

"I know," he groaned as he got to his feet. "Trust me, we all get those nightmares. It's all good, you don't kick _that _hard."

He offered his hand to her, and pulled her to her feet when she took it.

Dusting herself off and stretching a bit, she turned and saw that pretty much everyone else was staring at her.

"Which one?" Lana asked, walking up and putting her arm around her friend's waist in comfort.

Tilly put her arm over Lana and pulled her into her side, Lana's head only reaching to her shoulder. "The boy," she answered. "I tried to stop it…"

"You couldn't have stopped it," Lana told her. "You never would have made it there in time." Lana knew this dream well, and had a similar one herself occasionally. They weren't able to save the boy in real life, and it seemed they'd never be able to in their dreams either.

Glenn walked over to her and patted her gently on the back. "You think we'd at least be able to escape this nightmare when we slept. We don't get a break, even then."

Though his words weren't exactly comforting, it helped to know that these new people didn't think worse of her for her outburst. They understood. She smiled at him in appreciation and stuck her knife in her boot before heading toward the rest of the gang to discuss their plan for the day.

"We head east," Rick announced, crouched over the map he had spread on the ground. The group was circled around him, watching as he traced the route they would take with a dirty finger.

Tilly studied Rick as he spoke. The man acted so sure of himself, but there was a tinge of hesitation behind his blue eyes. She could tell that he was doing everything he could to fight that doubt and be an effective leader, but she couldn't help but wonder what had happened in the past to shake his confidence.

No doubt leading them into Terminus was something he regretted, but she had a feeling there was more to it than that. She wondered if it had anything to do with his children's mother, who obviously wasn't around anymore.

"It's a little farther than we'd hoped," Rick continued. "Probably about 30 miles, but we can make it."

"We'll just hunt along the way," Daryl added. "We can stop at the first town we find and try and gather some supplies."

"We could all use some clothes, water bottles, weapons," Sasha stepped forward. "Most of our stuff is still back at Terminus."

Rick nodded. "We should get moving. I'd like to at least get a third of the way there by tonight. Daryl, I want you and Tilly to stay at the back. Keep a look out. Michonne, you're up front with me."

With that, everyone took their places and they were on their way. They followed the tracks only until they reached a cross-road. They had no way of knowing if they were being followed by any survivors of Terminus, so they needed to get off of the tracks as quickly as possible.

Tilly walked slowly at the back of the group with Daryl as they trudged down the leaf-covered road, only stopping for a moment to gather blackberries after Maggie spotted a bush.

Rick told her to keep the rifle she had used for watch the night before, and she had it slung over her shoulder as she cradled a handful of berries, occasionally popping one in her mouth, savoring every bit of their sharp sweetness.

"You sure are taking your time with those things," Daryl's muffled voice announced, his mouth stuffed with blackberries.

"No one ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full?" She replied.

"Nope," he answered, giving her a grin. She couldn't help but laugh at his purple-tinged mouth. "What?" he asked. "Got something stuck in my teeth?" He leaned his face down next to hers, baring his berry-stained teeth.

"God, Daryl, stop it." She shoved him away as he chuckled.

She felt him tug on the shoulder of her shirt. "Mind if I use this?" He started moving it toward his mouth, about to use it as a makeshift toothbrush. She jerked it out of his hand and took a step father away.

"I swear, Dixon, if you don't stop you won't ever have to worry about finding another toothbrush."

He smirked at her as he licked the last of the berry juice from his fingers.

"And don't get any ideas about wiping those on me either," she added.

"Everything alright back there?" Carol called from the middle of the group.

"Yes, Mom!" Daryl yelled back. Carol just smiled at Tilly and turned back around.

Tilly stepped a little closer and began to talk to him , more quietly this time. "What's the deal with you and her?" she asked. "Seems like everyone else in the group has accepted her back in. You two not get along?"

Daryl shook his head. "Nah, that's not it. She and I were really close."

"Bad break up?" Tilly prodded.

"Ain't like that," Daryl scowled. "She was the first one of them to start treating me like I was worth something and not just a carbon copy of Merle."

"Your brother?" she asked, and Daryl nodded in confirmation. "So what's the problem? You not agree with what she did?"

"Can't go around making decisions like that on your own," he said. "She was reckless. Stupid. Got herself kicked out."

Suddenly, Tilly understood. "You feel like she abandoned you."

Daryl visibly tensed at her statement, and began walking a little faster.

"Stop, Daryl!" Tilly picked up her pace a bit, and reached out to grab his arm. He stopped and spun to face her. "I get it. You cared about her, and she wound up leaving you. Doesn't matter if she wanted to go, but it was still her fault."

She could see him chewing on the inside of his mouth as he turned from her and began walking again.

"Thought you were an electrician," he said. "You got some secret psych degree, too?"

"No," Tilly bowed her head and took a deep breath. "I just know a little about abandonment."

Daryl's face softened, and she knew he was waiting for her to elaborate. She had avoided telling him about her family before, but for some reason she was starting to feel not just the desire, but the need, to open up to him.

"This about your family?" he asked, before she even began her story.

She nodded. "My dad left us when I was four," she began. "My mother couldn't handle it. She was weak."

Daryl looked over at her, expecting to see her tearing up, but all he saw in her eyes was anger. "She stuck a gun in her mouth a few weeks later. Blew her brains out while I was playing at Lana's house. Lana's mother found her when she went to take me home. I remember her making me wait outside while she gathered some of my things and called the police. I didn't have any other family, so they took me in."

Daryl wasn't sure what to say. She didn't seem like the kind of person who needed to be comforted, so "I'm sorry" didn't feel right.

"That sucks," he offered.

_Damn it, dude, _he thought. _You can do better than that. _

"I mean, I get it. Our house burned down with my mom inside when I was young. My dad was never around, and when he was we wished he wasn't."

Tilly was surprised to hear him open up to her. Maybe he was relieved to find someone whose childhood was just as dysfunctional as his.

"Makes ya tough, though," Tilly said proudly. "I mean, look at us. If we hadn't been forced to learn to take care of ourselves we probably wouldn't have survived in this world very long."

"Never thought of it like that," he said.

"Of course you haven't," she smiled. "That's why you have me."


	8. Chapter 8

Early that afternoon, they finally came across a small town. There wasn't much to it: a boutique, a couple of gas stations, a café, a pharmacy and a few offices.

"Alright," Rick began, "Michonne, you, Tilly and Lana will check the clothing store. Get anything you think might fit someone here. When you're done, check the café."

He scanned the group, figuring out how to break the rest of the people up. "Tyreese and Sasha, you take the farthest gas station. Carol and Daryl, you take the other."

Tilly could see Daryl tensing his jaw. He was nervous about being forced to talk to Carol, and she had a feeling there was a reason Rick had paired them up.

"Maggie, Glenn, Bob, you three check the pharmacy. We need bandages, pain killers, antibiotics, anything useful that's left. We will also need bags to carry all of this, so everyone keep an eye open."

"Abraham, Eugene, Rosita, you guys keep watch on the perimeter. Yell if you see anything. And Tara, I want you to watch Judith. Stay close to Abraham. Everyone clear on what they're to do?"

Everyone nodded at Rick, then broke off to search their areas.

"You need to talk to me," Carol begged.

Daryl just shook his head. "Let's just clear the gas station. Ain't got time for chit-chat."

Carol reached out and grabbed his arm. "Look, I'm tired of all of our contact consisting of you glaring at me."

"You left, Carol!" he blurted out, realizing she wasn't going to drop this.

"I didn't choose to-"

"I know Rick made you leave, but you knew that if he ever found out about what you did that it was a possibility. Hell, you're lucky he didn't do worse." He paced back and forth in front of Carol, gathering his thoughts as she stood in silence. "You 'bout got Rick and me killed. When Ty found the bodies he hulked out, punched me and beat the piss out of Rick! That's on you!"

"I know, Daryl. Don't you think I know that?" She replied sternly. "I did it to protect the group. I know it didn't stop the virus, but I wasn't going to sit back and watch it kill everyone I cared about without doing something."

Daryl stopped pacing and stared at her, taking in what she was saying. "I never wanted to leave you guys," she continued. "But making sure the group stayed safe was more important to me than the consequences."

"I didn't even know you were gone," Daryl said sadly. "After the attack, I just thought you had been run off, maybe killed. I didn't know." Tears clouded his eyes as he thought back to the days after the prison, days he spent alone not knowing if anyone he cared about was still alive.

Carol stepped closer to him. "I'm here now. I'm so sorry, but I'm here."

Daryl closed the distance between them and wrapped her in a hug, his unspoken way of telling her he forgave her.

"Come on," Carol said as she stepped away from him, "let's go see what we can find in here."

Daryl led the way into the gas station, crossbow raised. After checking the front area he motioned for Carol to follow him. He grabbed a few plastic sacks from behind the counter while Carol checked the employee lounge in the back.

"All clear," she declared as she came back out to meet him. He handed her a couple of bags and they began gathering the few useful things that were left: A few bags of jerky, half-a-dozen water bottles, some candy bars and two cartons of cigarettes that Daryl took for himself.

"You seem to get along well with Tilly," Carol remarked as she scanned another aisle, grabbing some feminine products for the women. "I like her pretty well myself."

"Yeah, she's alright," Daryl nodded. "She ain't a wuss, that's for sure."

Carol wanted to delve a little more into how he really felt about her, but she knew she needed to choose her words carefully. "You know, I heard her and her friend talking about you the other night while they were on watch."

This got Daryl's attention and he momentarily stopped searching the shelves to look at her. "Yeah?" he asked, curious as to what she really thought of him, though he wasn't sure why he cared.

Carol grinned and cut her eyes toward Daryl, curious to see his reaction to what she was about to say. "I believe the word they used was 'cute.'"

"Ha!" he scoffed. "Ain't nobody ever called me 'cute,' especially a girl like that."

"A girl like that?" Carol questioned. "You mean a pretty one?"

"Something like that," he mumbled. He was having a hard time getting his thoughts straight, but he wasn't about to admit to Carol that he had looked at her that way.

Carol laughed and walked over to him. "Are you serious right now? Just think about it. The way she talks to you, the way you two seem completely at ease around one another, the way you flirt-"

"I don't flirt," he said sharply.

"Oh, but you do." Carol couldn't hide the fact that she was enjoying his reaction to this news. He turned away from her and went back to stuffing supplies in the bag. "Alright," Carol sighed, "but I just thought you should know."

"Yeah, thanks," he grumbled.

"But Daryl," Carol sounded more serious this time, and he turned to look at her, "Tilly isn't one to bullshit. She wouldn't say anything she didn't mean, and she sure wouldn't treat you the way she does if she didn't like you. If you don't think of her like that, fine. But if you do, be honest. With yourself, and with her."

Daryl just nodded and finished tying the bag he had filled. Carol was perceptive. _Too perceptive,_ he thought. _Even if I did feel that way about Tilly, ain't no way I'd ever have a shot. She's too focused, too strong, too beautifu- _He had to stop himself from thinking like that. _Like Tilly said the other day, you let yourself get distracted and you'll get yourself killed._

As they were gathering up all of their bags, they heard a scream outside.

"You drop her right now!" they heard Abraham yell as they sprinted for the exit, dropping their bags on the ground.

"Oh my god," Carol gasped when they finally could see what was happening.

Daryl's heart stopped when he took in the scene in front of him. There was a large blonde man, even bigger than Abraham, standing with his back to them. A spray of red hair peeked over his shoulder.

"Tilly!" he yelled, sprinting toward the man.

"Nuh-uh," the man clicked his tongue as he turned toward Daryl and he could see the man held a gun to her head. He could also now see that the man wasn't alone. A group nearly as large as theirs stood just outside of the café, all men.

"You better hold it right there, or sweet thang here is gonna get a nice big hole in the head," the man threatened. "All of you," he ordered, "drop your weapons. We don't want any trouble."

"Well, what do ya want?" Daryl yelled as he set his crossbow on the ground and studied the man, looking for any weaknesses.

"Just Red here," he answered. "Got a lot of lonely, lonely men in my group, and a woman would do wonders for their morale." He had a sickening smile plastered on his face.

The rest of the man's group stood behind him, practically drooling as they studied Tilly.

Daryl studied Tilly's face expecting to see terror, but instead it looked determined. He knew she was fully capable of taking care of herself, she'd proven that, but he knew that she couldn't handle _this_ on her own. He hoped she wouldn't do anything stupid in an attempt to escape and wind up getting herself killed.

"You aren't taking her," Rick told the man. "That's not an option. Now, we have supplies, weapons, maybe we can work something else out."

Daryl knew that Rick had no intention of giving them any of their supplies. He was stalling while he came up with a plan.

The man just laughed. "I don't think you understand, cowboy. We got supplies. What we don't got is a nice little pussy to keep us warm at night." He stroked Tilly's hair with the hand that held his gun and she jerked in his arms. "Shhh, sweetheart, don't worry. We'll take _real_ good care of you."

Daryl's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists, willing himself to wait for Rick's cue before he acted.

"Don't talk about her like that," Daryl ordered through gritted teeth.

"Oh boy, this one yours?" the man asked Daryl, raising his eyebrows. "Is that why you don't wanna give her up?" He laughed as Daryl's face grew red. "How'd you ever manage to get a piece of this sweet ass, anyway? She got a thing for ugly rednecks?"

Daryl swore he could hear his own heart it was pounding so loud.

The man seemed to get some kind of sick pleasure out of making him squirm. "Can't blame ya, man, you got good taste. I love redheads. That creamy skin, those soft, pink nipp-GOD DAMMIT!"

The man yelled as Tilly bit the hand that was over her mouth. He jerked his hand away momentarily and she spat a chunk of his flesh on the ground. She tried to run, but he grabbed her by her hair and pulled her back to him. "That's the other thing I love about redheads," he smiled, ignoring the blood pouring from his hand, "they got some fight in them." He slammed the handle of his gun into the side of Tilly's head and she went limp.

"You motherfucker, I'm gonna kill you!" Daryl yelled as he ran toward the man, unable to contain himself any longer.

The man pointed his gun at Daryl, but Rick acted quickly, pulling his trusty Python from its holster and shooting him through the arm, making him drop the gun. The rest of the group took that as their cue to act.

They took cover as well as they could behind the cars and took out the rest of the men.

The man who had Tilly reached for his gun, but Daryl got to it first and stuck it to his temple.

"I'm 'bout to teach you a real important lesson about how not to treat a lady," Daryl growled, then he pulled the trigger, splattering the man's brains across the sidewalk.

He dropped the gun and quickly crawled over to where Tilly lay on the ground, surrounded by a puddle of both her and the man's blood.

"Bob!" Carol yelled as she ran toward the unconscious woman. Blood ran down from Tilly's hairline, and Bob sprinted over to check her wound,

"She's gonna have a pretty nasty concussion," he explained. "And this gash is deep. I'll need to stitch it. I think we found everything I'll need in the pharmacy. Let's get her in there and I'll take care of it."

Tyreese stepped forward and reached for Tilly. "I'll take her in there."

"Nah," Daryl stepped in front of them, "I've got it." He wrapped one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees and stood to cradle her to his chest as he packed her to the pharmacy.

His heart sank seeing this normally strong, fearless woman bloody and unconscious.

She was hurt badly, but he knew she'd be alright. She always was. He was going to make sure of that.


	9. Chapter 9

When Tilly woke up it was dark and her mouth tasted like copper.

_That man_, she remembered, _I bit off part of his hand_.

"Good thing I've had all my shots," she said out loud, chuckling to herself.

"Tilly?" she heard Lana's soft voice beside her and struggled to open her eyes. "You're awake!"

Tilly smiled when she heard her familiar voice and felt her friend's hand holding hers.

"Lan, I'm so glad you're here," she whispered, squeezing her hand. She heard her friend laugh and strained to open her eyes. They were in the back of a van, presumably headed toward the farm.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

Lana pointed to Tilly's hand, grinning from ear to ear. Pain shot through her head as she turned, but she gritted her teeth and held in the yelp that was threatening to escape.

When she finally got her eyes to focus in the dark she saw Daryl's sleeping form lying next to her. It wasn't Lana's hand she held, but his.

"He wouldn't leave," Lana explained.

"I'm not sure if it's the shot to the head or what, but I'm confused." Tilly wasn't sure what to make of the situation, not that she was complaining. She and Daryl had definitely become friends, but it didn't seem like him to show this kind of concern and affection. He was the sort of guy who just played apathetic most of the time.

"He killed that guy, the one who hit you. Almost got shot doing it," Lana told her, but Tilly couldn't take her eyes off of his face.

She hadn't had the chance to really study it before. He tended to quickly break any eye contact they made. It was too intimate for him. As he slept, his face was softer, his normally tense jaw relaxed.

Without thinking, she reached over with her other hand and brushed a strand of brown hair off of his face. He stirred at her touch and his eyes fluttered open, locking with hers.

"Matilda?" he said softly. A smile momentarily swept across his lips before he looked down and realized his fingers were interlocked with hers. He started to pull his hand away, but Tilly held on tighter.

"Don't," she said. "Stay."

He paused for a moment, considering what she said.

_Maybe Carol ain't full of shit afterall_, he thought. _And she was definitely right about the fact that Tilly wasn't shy about what she wants._

He relaxed his hand and sat up a bit, propping himself up with his other elbow.

"You remember what happened?" he asked.

Tilly began to sit up, but winced when sharp pain echoed through her head.

"Hey, hey," Daryl took his hand from hers and laid it on her stomach, gently encouraging her to lay back down. They didn't have any actual pillows, so Lana had rolled up a tarp for her to use as one. It crinkled a bit every time she moved, but served its purpose well enough.

When the pain subsided a bit, Tilly answered him. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I remember it all. He said... Something," she was struggling to get her thoughts straight. It did seem parts of her memory were missing. "He said something, I bit him and then it's just black."

She was frustrated with the fact that details were missing, and looked pleadingly at Lana, hoping she'd fill in the gaps.

Lana got the hint. "After we checked out the clothing store, you offered to go clear the cafe. It was small, so we figured you'd be ok doing it on your own. God, I'm so stupid," Tears filled Lana's eyes. "I should never have let you go by yourself. I'm the worst friend ever."

"Shhh," Tilly comforted her, "don't you dare insult my best friend like that." She smiled at Lana. "Besides, when's the last time I waited for anyone's permission to do something?"

Lana laughed a little at that and wiped her eyes with her sleeve before continuing. "We heard you yelling so we ran outside. You ran out of the cafe, but that man caught up to you. Their group must have been hiding out in there. He was huge, Till."

"I remember that much," Tilly said.

"Michonne ran to help, but stopped when he pulled his gun on you. I thought I was going to lose you, Tills. I've never been so afraid."

This time it was Lana who grabbed her hand, and Tilly rubbed her thumb over her friends knuckles, trying to offer her some comfort.

"By then, the rest of our group, and his, were out on the street. He started telling us about what they were going to _use _you for. I wanted to puke, Tilly, my mind went right back to Memphis and watching you-"

"It's fine," Tilly cut her off. "They didn't do anything to me."

"Didn't do anything to you?" Daryl injected, suddenly angry. "The fuck you mean they didn't do anything to you?"

_What the hell is wrong with this chick? _he thought. _Does she not understand what just happened?_

"I'm fine, Daryl, really." She couldn't understand why he was so upset.

"You ain't _fine_, Tilly. You got knocked out by a fucking mountain! Stitches in your head. Hell of a concussion. I'm surprised you woke up at all!"

"Daryl, I-"

"No," he was fuming, "what you did back there was stupid. You tried to take on a man three times your size who had a fucking gun pointed at your head. What if he had shot you? You almost _died,_ Tilly. Do you get that? You're not invincible."

Tilly stated at him wide-eyed, unsure of how to respond.

"I ain't saying you can't take care of yourself, but you have to remember that you're with us now. You've got people around to save you when you can't do it yourself. I'll-" he cleared his throat, "we'll take care of you."

"I... I..." Tilly stammered, "I don't know what to say."

"Don't gotta say anything," he said, calming down a bit. "Just lay down and let someone else take care of you for once. You with me, Lana?"

Lana's mouth hung wide open, but she managed a nod.

"Alright," he continued, "we'll take turns waking you up every little bit. Can't have you sleeping too long with your head all fucked up."

"And what exactly are you trying to say about my head?" Tilly teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Daryl sighed, "There's a big fucking hole in it, Matilda. Now stop being a smartass for thirty seconds and get some rest."

Lana swallowed, regaining her composure and laid her hand on Tilly's arm. "Though I wouldn't have said it quite like _that_," she cast a sideways glance at Daryl, "he's right. We don't have to do this on our own now. You've done such a good job of looking out for everyone else, it's time you let other people look out for you."

They heard a single horn blow from in front of them, and the van slowed to a stop. "Caravan's stopped," Bob called from the driver's seat.

"I'll go see what's going on," Daryl responded, and opened the back of the van to go talk to Rick.

When he returned a minute later, he explained that they were going to make camp here. It was too dark to go any farther tonight.

"Tilly, you'll bunk here, sleep in the van. I'll stay and make sure you wake up occasionally."

"I'll keep close in case you guys need something," Bob said. "There are some extra bandages up here. You should change hers out soon." Daryl gave him a nod and he left to join the rest of the camp.

Lana looked at Tilly, her face giving away that she wasn't going to leave the side of her friend easily.

"You should get some sleep, Lana," Tilly encouraged.

Lana hesitated, considering the temptation of sleep against taking care of her best friend. "You sure?" she asked.

"Yeah," Tilly smiled. "You don't have to worry about me."

Lana nodded and turned to Daryl. "Mind if I talk to you outside for a second?"

A look of confusion crossed his face, but he nodded and got up to follow her outside. "I'll be right back," he said to Tilly.

Lana leaned down and gave Tilly a kiss on the cheek before exiting. "Love you," she said.

"Love you back," Tilly grinned. "Now go get some rest."

"What is it?" Daryl asked Lana once they were standing outside of the van.

Lana's face tensed and she crossed her arms in front of her, looking up at the hunter with her most serious face.

Daryl had to fight to keep from laughing at the sight. _This little five-foot-nothin' chick is trying to intimidate me. _

"Look," Lana began, "you need to be straight with me."

"Ok…" he replied, confused as to where this was going.

"What are your intentions with Matilda?" she pried.

This time Daryl couldn't contain his laughter. "You her daddy now?"

"I'm serious, Dixon," she continued. "She's all the family I have left. She's stubborn as a damn mule, I know, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to look out for her. You seem decent enough, and I appreciate what you did for her back in the town, but just know that I'll be keeping my eye on you."

"Ain't gonna do nothin' to your friend," he replied, finally composing himself. "Just trying to look out for her, same as you."

Lana nodded, dropping her arms to her sides. "Alright. Here ends the required best-friend-boyfriend-threatening."

"Ain't nobody's boyfriend," she shot back at her.

"_Ok_, Daryl," she smiled. "Goodnight." She left to join the rest of the group as he went back into the van.

"Why'd you have to go and sick your munchkin on me?" Daryl asked he shut the van doors behind him. Tilly lay right where he had left her, her eyes closed.

"Hey Till," he nudged her arm. "Need to change your bandages real quick, then you can sleep for a bit."

"Huh?" she blinked. "Alright." She pushed herself up with her hands, a little too quickly, and her elbows buckled at the pain that shot through her.

Daryl shot his arm behind her back, catching her before she fell back down and hit her head again. "Goddammit, woman, be careful." He used his arm to help ease her to a sitting position. "You've gotta take it slow for a while."

"That's not really an option out here," she replied, rubbing her forehead with her palm once she was upright.

Daryl shook his head. _Like Lana said, stubborn as a mule. _"It's the only option for you right now. You won't do anyone much good if you jump back into things right now. You'll just end up actually getting yourself killed."

"Why do you care so much?" Tilly asked, locking eyes with him.

Daryl paused before breaking their eye contact and starting to get the new bandages ready. "When you ain't off getting yourself kidnapped you're pretty useful."

Tilly just smiled. She knew that was all she was going to get out of him. "How'd things go with Carol earlier?" she changed the subject, remembering the two of them scouted together earlier.

"Fine," he said, taking a small pair of scissors and cutting through the old bandage on her head.

She hissed at the pain as he slowly pulled it off of her wound.

"Damn," Daryl exclaimed, examining the gash. He gently reached up and pushed some of her hair away from it so he could get a better look. She winced as his fingers grazed the tender area. "Sorry," he said softly. "This looks pretty gnarly. The whole side of your head is bruised."

"Yeah," she replied, "I can tell."

She watched his face as he continued checking and cleaning the wound with a bit of peroxide. His blue eyes were focused and he bit his lip as he worked, his face close to hers in order to see better in the dark.

_This is a nice distraction from the pain, _she thought.

"Hey Daryl?" she said softly.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

He pulled back a bit so he was looking her in the eye. "For what?" he asked.

"Lana said you killed that man, that you almost got shot doing it. I've only known you a couple of days, but you risked your life for me." He looked away, almost as if he was embarrassed. "Hey," she reached out and put her hand under his chin, making him look back at her, "why can't you just accept my gratitude?"

He shrugged.

"What you said earlier? You were right," she continued, staring into his eyes. He looked like he wanted to turn away again, but he fought the urge. "No more letting my pride get in the way of making smart decisions."

"Bout time you figured that out," he smiled.

"I want you to know that I trust you," she said. Her hand had dropped from his chin, but he stayed in the same position she had left him. "Everyone here has been kind to me, but you've gone out of your way to include me, to make me feel part of this family."

"Rick asked me to," he responded, finally looking away. He grabbed a new piece of gauze and began re-wrapping her head.

"I know," she responded, feeling his warm breath on her cheek as he worked. "But I don't think that's the only reason."

"Huh?" He finished securing the bandage in place and started to pull away from her, but she brought her hand up behind his head and held his face near hers.

Something sparkled in her eyes, and it made Daryl nervous. _What's she doing? _he wondered.

"Not to be forward, but I'd very much like to kiss you, Daryl Dixon," she whispered, a smile crossing her lips.

_Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. _Daryl wasn't sure how to handle this. _Do I want to kiss her? _He asked himself. He thought back to what Carol had told him earlier about Tilly and how he needed to skip the bullshit and be honest about how he felt.

"I'd like to kiss you, too, Matilda…" he paused, "Uh, I don't think I know your last name."

"It's Snow," she grinned.

"Matilda Snow," he repeated, and he felt his heart pounding in his chest as he slowly leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers.

_Yes,_ he thought, _I definitely want to do this. _


	10. Chapter 10

The kiss was quick and innocent. Tilly didn't want to make him any more uncomfortable than he already was by attempting to deepen it. Daryl just didn't want to push her too hard while she was already hurting.  
>They pulled apart after a moment and just stared at each other, neither of them really sure what to say. Tilly was normally pretty confident in these situations. Hell, she'd initiated the kiss, but she found herself a little disoriented.<br>"You alright? Daryl asked. "I didn't hurt your head, did I?"  
>"No, no, it's not that."<br>"Was it that bad?" He bowed his head a little, averting his eyes. _She regrets it,_ he thought.  
>"Oh, my God, no!" She couldn't believe he would ever think that. It had been incredible. "Stop that talk right now, Daryl Dixon. My head's just a little swimmy. Probably just the concussion," she rationalized, knowing well that it wasn't the case. "I'd like to do that again sometime," she smiled.<br>"The concussion?"  
>"The kiss, you smartass," she laughed and he joined her, the awkwardness finally gone.<br>He scooted away from her a bit and put his hand on her arm, "Another time, Till. Let me go get you some food. When's the last time you ate?"  
>She thought for a moment. "Those squirrels we killed, back on the tracks."<br>"Well," he said, making his way toward the doors, "no wonder you're dizzy. I'll be right back."  
>"No, Daryl," she called out, "it's fine. I'm really not hungry, I swear. I'm just tired."<br>He shook his head, "No more arguing. Lay down and I'll be back."  
>Tilly huffed a little, but laid down, resting her aching head on the tarp and quickly drifting off.<br>She was awoken what felt like a second later by the click of the van door.  
>"Mmm," she moaned, keeping her eyes closed, "please just let me sleep a little longer, Daryl. I'll eat later."<br>"I'm sorry, I just need to talk to you for a minute, Tilly." It wasn't Daryl's voice she heard, but Rick's.  
>She opened her eyes and sat up, slowly this time. "Hey bossman, what's up?"<br>He took a seat beside her on the floor of the van. "First, how are you feeling? You took a hard hit back there."  
>"I'm alive," she answered. "That's all you can really hope for anymore."<br>Rick nodded, then got straight to business. "We almost lost you back there," he began.  
>"I know." She raised her hand, begging him to spare her another lecture. "Daryl already got up my ass about it. Won't happen again, I promise."<br>"I'm not here to scold you," he said. "I just haven't had a chance to get to know you."  
>She nodded and laid back on her elbows as she listened. "What do you want to know?"<br>"Now, I hope it doesn't upset you, but Daryl told me about what happened to you with the group of men you, Lana and her brother met in that factory."  
>"It's alright," she said, "I knew he was just getting information to pass along to you anyway. I don't mind anyone knowing."<br>Rick nodded, pleased she wasn't angry. "What you did then was brave, and I'm sorry someone tried to do it to you again."  
>"That's just one of the hazards of being a woman in this world," she sighed, and she could see the sympathy in his eyes. He had probably done some unspeakable things to protect his people, but he was still the kind of man who didn't understand taking advantage of women.<br>Rick lowered his head and spun the wedding ring on his finger. "That's the truth," he continued. "I just want you to promise me you won't go off alone again, even if you think you're safe. We've had too many accidents, lost too many people, in _safe_ situations, and I'd prefer not to lose any more."  
>"Alright," Tilly agreed.<br>"I'm glad you're with us, Tilly. Even though you messed up back there, I genuinely believe our group is stronger with you in it. I admire your bravery."  
>"Thank you," she smiled, "I'm glad we're here, too. We've survived on our own for a long time and we could handle it, but I'd prefer not to be back out there by ourselves, especially without Joseph now."<br>"I don't think I've said it, but I'm sorry for your loss," Rick looked her in the eye now. "I'm lucky to still have my children, but I lost my wife in childbirth while we were at the prison. You know there's always a risk of losing people you care about, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. How is Lana doing with it?"  
>Tilly shook her head a little. "It's hard to tell. She won't talk about it. I think she's just trying to forget."<br>"I tried that for a while," he shared. "I tried to preoccupy myself enough that I would forget Lori was gone, but it wasn't until I finally accepted it that I was able to deal. Well, I'm trying to deal," he admitted. "I still struggle with it."  
>"Is that why you doubt yourself?" Tilly asked, and she could tell he was surprised at the question.<br>"I don't-"  
>"I can see it in your eyes," she interrupted. "Whatever happened to Lori, it was the fault of this world, not you. I haven't known you long, but I can tell you're a good leader. You care about all of these people. You're going to mess up sometimes, and you won't be able to save everybody, but you're doing a good job. Look at how many people you have left. They're alive. You had a big part in that."<br>Rick leaned in and gently wrapped Tilly in a hug. "Thank you. I needed to hear that."  
>"We should make it to the farm before dark tomorrow," he said, pulling away. "We'll have a more comfortable place for you to recover there."<br>"Speaking of not being in this van anymore, you think I could get up and move around a little? I'm dying for some fresh air."  
>"Sure you're up to it?" Rick questioned.<br>She nodded, and he offered her his hand and helped her to the back of the van, opening the door for her. She scooted to the edge of the bumper and set her feet down on the ground, her face turned upward to look at the sky.  
>"Take it easy now." He wrapped his hands around her elbow and helped her to her feet.<br>She stood in place for a moment, sizing up how she felt. Her head still pounded, but her legs felt fine.  
>She looked over at Rick and smiled, "I'm good. I'm just gonna walk around a little bit. I'll stay close to the van."<br>"Alright," he nodded. "Take it slow. I'll go get Daryl and let him know you're out here."  
>Rick walked toward the camp to get Daryl, who was keeping watch while he spoke to her.<br>Tilly took a few tentative steps with her hand still on the side of the van. Once she felt stable enough and had stretched out her legs a bit, she decided to head over to where she saw Rick and Daryl talking quietly.  
>Daryl turned toward the sound of her steps and frowned. "Thought you were supposed to be resting."<br>She smiled at him, and kept walking toward the men. "I was, but I just couldn't stand to be in that van-" she stopped abruptly as a wave of nausea overcame her. She bent over with her hands on her knees and vomited up the small amount of liquid in her stomach.  
>She looked up when she was finished, spitting the last bit of bile from her mouth, and saw that Daryl had begun walking toward her.<br>She held up her hand and started walking in the direction of the two men. "I'm fine, guys, I guess I just-"  
>Daryl watched as the color drained from her face and she started to wobble. The men both started to sprint toward Tilly, but they couldn't get to her quickly enough. She fell to the ground with a dull <em>thud<em>, her head bouncing off of the hard dirt.  
>"Get Bob!" Daryl yelled as he reached her, and Rick ran to get the medic. He rolled Tilly onto her back and pulled her head into his lap, shaking her gently. "Tilly! Matilda!" She didn't even stir, but the others in camp were starting to wake up and come over to check out the scene.<br>Lana pushed past everyone and dropped to her knees at Tilly's side. "What happened?" she asked frantically.  
>"I… She collapsed. She was walking around fine, then she threw up and just went down."<br>Daryl started to panic. _Never should have left her alone._  
>A moment later, Bob was there. He pulled open her eye lids and shined his flashlight into each of her eyes, then he pressed two fingers to the side of her neck.<br>"Her pupils are dilating normally. Her pulse is weak," he explained.  
>"What's that mean, doc?" Lana asked, tears in her eyes. This was the second time in 24 hours she was terrified of losing her best friend.<br>"She'll be fine, she's just weak. Probably dehydrated, especially since she was vomiting. We have a couple of IV bags of fluids we found in the pharmacy. Get her back to the van and we'll hook her up."  
>Bob went to retrieve the supplies to place her IV, and Daryl carried her gently back to the van, Lana following close behind.<p>

A few minutes later, once Bob had taped the tube to her hand and hung the bag from a hook in the van he turned to Daryl. "Let me know when this runs out. We have another, and we need to get as much into her as we can."  
>Daryl nodded, his eyes focused on Tilly's face. "Will do."<br>"Oh, " Bob turned back as he was leaving the van, "don't let her get up again. She'll probably tell you she feels fine, but she's not in her right mind. She probably won't even remember anything that happened tonight." With that, he left to return to camp.  
>"Why did you let her get out of here?" Lana accused.<br>"Didn't _let_ her do nothin', squirt. Rick was in here talking to her, so I was covering watch. Go yell at him if you gotta." He shooed her away with his hand, and she left to go confront Rick, closing the door behind her.  
>As Daryl studied her sleeping face he thought about what Bob said. <em>She's not in her right mind. That's why she kissed me.<em> His heart sunk a bit at the thought. All he had been able to think about since it happened was doing it again, but now he was convinced it only happened because she was confused. _She won't even remember it tomorrow._  
>He laid down beside her and forced himself to rest.<br>Tilly woke up as the first beams of dawn shone through the van windows. She started to move her arm, and was confused when she saw it was attached to an IV bag. _What the hell is going on?_ She looked to her left and saw that Daryl was asleep beside her, lightly snoring.  
>She laughed a little and shook his arm gently. He startled a bit at her touch and his eyes fluttered open. "What? Tilly? Everything alright?"<br>"Everything's fine, Dixon," she answered, confused about what had him so riled up. "Care to tell me what this is all about?" She tugged gently on the tube attached to her arm.  
>"You scared the shit out of me, again" he said, his voice angry. "That's what happened. You got ballsy and tried to get up and walk around. Head injury, haven't eaten in days… I'm surprised you made it as far as you did."<br>"I passed out?" she asked.  
>"You don't remember?"<br>"I remember deciding to walk around. I felt fine. I was heading toward you and Rick, and now I'm tied up inside this van," she explained.  
>"Ain't <em>tied up.<em> You're doing exactly what you should be doing, resting, getting some fluids in you."  
>Tilly felt a little embarrassed. She meant it when she promised Daryl she'd be more careful, but she must have not been thinking clearly.<br>"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "I don't know what got into me."  
>He softened a bit, seeing she really did feel bad about what happened. "You took a hard blow, it's understandable that you're a little off," he said, sitting up to face her.<br>"I don't want to be a burden," she sighed. "I feel so _helpless_ just lying here, and I hate it."  
>Daryl nodded. He understood exactly what she was saying. It had killed him to be doted over when he was hurt on the farm, no matter how badly he was injured.<br>He cleared his throat as he tried to work up the courage to talk to her about what had been on his mind since last night.  
>"Do you want to talk about," he paused, "what, um, what we <em>did<em> last night?"  
>"What do you mean?" she asked, her face serious.<br>Daryl didn't know what to think. "You don't remember?"  
>Tilly could see him fidgeting, regretting saying anything at all, and she finally started laughing. "I'm kidding, Daryl. We kissed."<br>He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. _This woman,_ he thought.  
>She started to sit up and Daryl quickly grabbed her arm and helped her. She turned toward him and put her hand on his. She felt him tense a bit, but that didn't stop her. "How could I ever forget that?"<br>"Thought maybe it was just the head injury making you do crazy shit."  
>She shook her head. "Nothing crazy about it. I wanted to do it."<br>The corner of his lip turned up a little at hearing her say that. He was surprised when he felt her lay her hand gently on his cheek.  
>"I'd like to do it again," she said. "That is, if you're not just tired of me being a pain in your ass by now."<br>He shook his head. "Not tired of it yet." He reached a large hand up behind her head and lightly wound his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck, pulling her closer until their lips touched.  
>Feeling more confident this time, he ran his tongue along her bottom lip until she parted her mouth, allowing him to enter. He could feel her smiling against him and a growl rumbled deep in his chest as he explored her mouth.<br>Tilly brought her hands down to grasp his biceps. She hadn't realized how badly she'd wanted to get ahold of them, and she squeezed them lightly, enjoying the way his hard muscles felt under her fingers.  
>He allowed his hands to travel down her back, then trailed his fingers up and down her sides, eventually letting them rest on her hips. He couldn't believe how badly he wanted her in this moment, but knew that he needed to take it easy so she could heal.<br>He pulled back after a long moment, resting his forehead on hers.  
>"You done with me already?" she whispered, not entirely happy the kiss was over.<br>He shook his head. "Nah, not nearly, but you need to take it easy. There will be plenty of time for more of this once you're back in fightin' shape."  
>She nodded, knowing he was right, and sat back on her hands.<br>"Speaking of shape," he began as he sat up, eyeing her thin frame, "you need to eat, for real this time. You're looking a little puny."  
>"Puny?" she laughed. "Never gotten that one before. I swear, Daryl, I'm not hungry. To be honest, my stomach is still a little queasy."<br>"Well, you're going to try," he ordered. "A little protein'll do ya good. Ain't gonna have you wasting away on my watch."  
>"Yes, sir," she said, rolling her eyes.<br>"That's what I like to hear."


	11. Chapter 11

After a quick breakfast of jerky and water, the group resumed their journey toward the farm.

The caravan moved slowly, and Bob was careful to avoid any potholes, but each bump sent another wave of pain through Tilly's head. Lana sat in the back of the van with her, and Daryl rode in the passenger seat next to Bob. The four of them drove in silence, until mid-day when Daryl's voice broke through the quiet.

"Here we are," he announced when the familiar 'Green' mailbox came into view. A minute later, Tilly felt the van come to a stop and her heart soared at the idea of finally being rid of that awful van.

Bob hopped out of the vehicle and came around to open the door as Lana helped Tilly sit up. When the doors swung open, the girls were momentarily blinded by the sunlight that spilled in on them.

"It's like busting out of that train car all over again," Tilly joked.

"Just try not to fall this time." She looked up to see Daryl had joined Bob at the door, his and both of the girls' bags thrown over his shoulder.

Bob offered his hand to Tilly, and she took it as she scooted toward the bumper. He bent so she could get her arm around his neck, and she leaned on him as she stood.

"Oh, my god." Once her eyes adjusted she was dumbfounded by what she saw around her. Sure, there were bodies of walkers strewn about, as well as the charred remnants of a barn, but the scenery was breathtaking. She turned her head slowly from side to side, admiring the soft, green grass and open fields. A statuesque white farm house stood in front of them, the front porch begging to be sat on with a glass of sweet tea and a good book.

"This is incredible," Lana marveled, just as enamored as Tilly.

"It really is somethin', right?" She turned as she heard Maggie's voice. The brunette stood beside them, staring at the home, a look of familiarity and sadness in her eyes. "I miss this place more than I could ever tell you. Ain't the same without Daddy around, though."

"Yeah," Daryl put a hand on Maggie's shoulder and smiled at the thought of the old man, "but he'd be glad we made it back here."

Maggie nodded and gave Daryl a small smile before turning to Bob. "Come on, Rick and Glenn are doing a quick sweep of the place, then we'll get you into a bed so you can get some real rest. Maybe even a shower."

Both of the girls' eyes lit up at that. Taking baths in cold creeks had gotten old long ago, and Tilly longed for a warm shower and the chance to treat her tangled hair to a proper scrubbing.

"Oh man, I think I just fell in love with you, Maggie," Tilly smiled.

"Get in line." Glenn walked up beside his wife and kissed her cheek. They had finished their sweep of the house. "All clear," he said. "We can set Tilly up in the first guest room."

Maggie grabbed Tilly's other arm to help lead her toward the house. "You'll love it in there after being stuck in that van," she explained. "There's big windows, lots of light."

After moving Tilly's bag into her new room, Lana retrieved some fresh clothes for her and she and Maggie helped hold her steady as she took a hot shower.

"Ooooh, my God," Tilly moaned as she stepped under the running water, "this is better than sex."

"Better than sex with Daryl Dixon?" Lana teased, she and Maggie erupting with laughter.

Tilly cupped her hands to catch some water and flung it at the giggling women. They both shrieked, and soon they were all nearly falling over with laughter. Even though she was the butt of their joke, Tilly was glad to have a minute to goof off with some girlfriends, just like old times.

A knock on the door interrupted them. "Everything alright in there?" Rick called, a hint of a smile in his voice.

"I'm just in here being bullied, bossman, it's all good," Tilly answered.

Rick chuckled, "Take it easy on her, ladies. Tilly, when you get out of there try and get some rest. I'll have Carol bring you lunch."

"Will do."

"And don't use all the hot water!" he lightheartedly ordered.

"No promises!" Tilly yelled, and the girls resumed their laughing.

After drying off and putting on the clean jeans and long-sleeved shirt Lana had given her, Tilly was finally able to take advantage of the nice, warm bed she had been dreaming of for months. She rested her aching head on the soft pillows and quickly drifted off.

She spent the next 24 hours wavering in and out of sleep, only waking to eat or briefly visit with whoever came to check on her. The rest did her a world of good, and by the next afternoon Bob had cleared her to get out of bed as long as she promised to take it easy. That wasn't a hard deal for her to make. The pain in her head had dulled and she was anxious to soak up whatever amount of time she had in that beautiful place.

When Bob finished removing her bandage, Maggie entered the room carrying another set of clothes and a hairbrush.

"Here," Maggie said, handing her the brush, "go get cleaned up and you can head on outside."

Tilly was grateful to do some damage control on her mop of hair. Lying in bed hadn't done it any favors. She went to the bathroom, and studied her face in the mirror as she brushed her hair and pulled it into a pony tail. The bruise on her head was beginning to lighten and turn yellow, and the gash seemed to be healing well enough. The stitches were a little unsightly, she thought, but Bob had informed her they only needed to stay in a few more days. All-in-all, she thought she looked pretty decent.

"How's it goin'?" Lana asked, stepping into the bathroom.

"Good as I could hope," Tilly answered. "Is it superficial to say I miss my eyeliner, though?"

Lana laughed, "Yeah, but it doesn't surprise me to hear you say that."

From a young age, Tilly had always been the girlier of the two friends. Lana preferred comfort and Tilly was willing to sacrifice it for style. She thought back on how Lana used to roll her eyes at her each morning as she sat in front of the mirror, meticulously applying her "face."

Tilly remained in front of the mirror a minute longer, smoothing the strands of hair that escaped her hairtie.

"You look _fine,_" Lana sighed, grabbing her arm and leading her toward the door. "Now get your ass outside and get some air. It'll do ya good."

A few minutes later, Tilly found herself sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch, quietly admiring the view.

"I've really missed this place," Glenn said, walking out of the house and taking a seat next to her.

"Tell me about it," Tilly said gently. "Tell me about what happened when you were here before."

Glenn took a deep breath, "We came here because Carl was accidentally shot by a man named Otis, who worked on the farm. We set up a base here while he healed so we could look for Carol's daughter Sophia. She went missing after a herd of walkers came through while we were on the highway."

He told her about the barn, and how Hershel kept walkers in there because he believed they were sick.

"Rick's best friend Shane was with us back then. He was kind of a loose cannon, and he butted heads with Rick a lot. When he found out about the barn, he went nuts. He handed out all of our guns, then went and opened the barn. When we thought we had killed them all," Glenn paused, wringing his hands as he recalled the story, "Sophia walked out. She was one of them, in there the whole time."

Tilly gasped, unable to hide her shock at the revelation. Tears burned her eyes as her heart broke for Carol.

Glenn continued their story, telling her about how they found Randall after Hershel took off to the bar in town and they were attacked. He told her about his friend Dale, and how he was gutted in the field by a walker.

"Then Shane," he looked down at his shoes, "he just went crazy. He took Randall out into the woods, snapped his neck, so he could lure Rick out there. Lori was pregnant, Shane thought it was his, and he needed Rick out of the way. He tried to kill him, but Rick won. He killed him, and Carl put him down when he turned. After that, the herd came through and we were driven out. Two of us were killed, Patricia and Jimmy, and Andrea got left behind. That's a long story for another time."

Tilly's mouth hung open at everything he had just told her. She wasn't sure exactly how to respond, and looking around at the beautiful scenery it was hard to imagine it had seen so much loss.

"So much happened here," Tilly said, looking Glenn in the eye. "I don't understand why you all missed it so much. I would think this would be a painful place for ya'll."

"The whole world is a painful place, Tilly," he responded. "You have to look for bright spots. As many terrible things that happened here, there were some great ones, too. This is where I fell in love with Maggie," he smiled. "It's where I met Hershel."

Glenn pulled an old gold watch from his pocket. "We were standing in the dining room when he gave me this, when he told me that he trusted me to be with his daughter." A tear ran down his cheek as he stared down at the timepiece in his palm.

Tilly stood and stepped in from of Glenn, pulling him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and embraced her back. "Thank you for sharing that with me, Glenn," she said as she pulled away. "I'm glad I was able to visit this place with you all. It's been so long since we've known any bit of peace. I feel like I can relax and catch my breath here."

Glenn nodded, "It's the perfect place for that. We're going to have Hershel's memorial in the morning, then we'll be back on the road, so enjoy it while you can." He squeezed her shoulder and he got up and walked back into the house.

She spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around and chatting with everyone she could. She wanted to take advantage of this break to get to know the rest of the group. When the sun began to set, she joined Carol in preparing dinner for everyone. They gathered what vegetables had somehow survived being untended since they left, and along with a couple of rabbits Daryl killed they were able to make a nice stew. Tilly was grateful for the Green's plentiful spice rack, and her mouth watered at the idea of a properly seasoned meal.

When the stew was done, the whole group gathered around the large dining room table. Everyone seemed more relaxed in this atmosphere. Even though they all knew deep down that no place was truly safe anymore, it seemed they had all let their guard down a bit and allowed themselves to enjoy the moment.

When they had all received their food, Rick stood and clinked his fork to his glass. "I'd like to propose a toast," he said formally. "To those who never made it off the farm. To Otis, Patricia, Jimmy, Dale-" he paused, "and to Shane. May they be in a better place."

The group raised their glasses, and Rick returned to his seat. Tilly could see the pain in his eyes as he spoke of Shane. She had a feeling that despite what happened between them, Rick still missed his best friend and what their friendship once was.

The group ate in silence for a minute before Lana spoke up. "Hey, whose guitar is that?" she asked, pointing to the instrument standing in the corner of the room.

"Mine," Glenn replied. "Well, sorta. Dale found it on the highway and gave it to me. I don't play, though."

"She does," Tilly smiled, pointing a thumb toward Lana. "We used to go to open mic nights all the time in college. She's really good."

A smile crossed Sasha's face. "Well, quit teasing us and show us what you got!"

Tyreese nudged his sister's arm. "Let the girl finish her supper first," he chided.

"Don't worry," Lana laughed, "I've never turned down an invitation to play. After supper we'll give ya a show, huh Tills?"

"You play, too?" Glenn asked Tilly.

She shook her head. "Nah, I tried but I was never any good. I sang with her sometimes."

"We do a killer Judds cover," Lana bragged.

"Oh!" Maggie perked up. "Do you know 'Grandpa?' That used to be mine and my sister's favorite."

Lana nodded, "That's always been our favorite, too."

It was agreed that after they were done with their meal the girls would play the song for the group.

When the last of them had finished, they gathered in the living room, Daryl staying behind for a moment to help Carol move the dishes into the sink. Though they would be leaving soon, and probably would never return, it didn't seem right to not clean the place up before they went.

When they had all settled in, Tilly and Lana took their place on the piano bench at the end of the room, the guitar across the brunette's knee.

She began to strum the first chords of the song, and then Tilly began to sing. "Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good ole days. Sometimes it feels like this world's gone crazy."

It was a fitting song, considering the state of the world they lived in, she thought. She finished the verse before Lana joined in to harmonize the chorus.

"Do lovers really fall in love to stay? Stand beside each other come what may? Is a promise really somethin' people kept, not just somethin' they would say?..."

Tilly looked around the room as she sang, and locked eyes with Daryl. For once, he looked relaxed, a small smile on his lips as he listened to them. Tilly returned his smile and winked at him before looking at the others.

Sasha and Bob were snuggled on a couch, Glenn sat on the floor in front of Maggie, his arm draped over her knee, and Carl hugged Judith in his lap, his father's arm over his shoulder. If she didn't know better, she would think everything was right with the world. She remembered Glenn's words from earlier. _The world is a painful place. You have to find the bright spots._ This was definitely a much needed bright spot.

As Lana played the last chord, the others applauded.

"Beautiful, ladies," Tyreese offered. "I hadn't realized how badly I missed just listening to music."

Carol walked up and put her arm around Lana's shoulder. "That was wonderful. You guys really are talented."

"Think I could take the guitar when we go?" Lana asked Rick hopefully. "Take this show on the road?"

He smiled at her. "Yeah, I think that'd be nice, as long as we have room for it. Won't really be able to play when we're camping out in the open, but it might be nice to have some entertainment every once in a while."

"Can you guys play another?" Carl asked, his eyes bright.

"That's enough for right now, son," Rick answered. "Tilly needs to get some rest. Maybe they can play something at Hershel's memorial tomorrow."

"I'd like that," Tilly said. "You all speak so highly of him, I'd be honored to do it."

Tilly started to get up and make her way to the bedroom and in a second Daryl was beside her, grabbing her arm. She felt pretty good and didn't really need his support, but she was glad he was helping her. She hoped to finally have a moment alone with him. She hadn't been able to talk to him much since they'd been at the farm.

She said her goodnights to everyone else and he led her back to her bed.

"Sit," she said as she laid back on the bed, patting the space beside her. He shut the door and sat down next to her. "You glad to be back here?" she asked.

"I guess," he said, chewing on his lip. "Brings back a lot of stuff about Sophia, but it's nice to be somewhere familiar. That doesn't happen much anymore."

"Is Sophia the reason you and Carol are close?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I think I was the only one who hadn't given up on finding her, except maybe Carl. At least we know what happened to her, even if it wasn't how we'd hoped."

"Yeah," Tilly agreed softly, not really knowing what else to say. "Hey, would you, uh, want to stay here with me tonight?"

Daryl hesitated for a moment, considering how it might look to the others if he slept there.

"Please?" Tilly asked again, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Think you're going to charm me into getting your way?" he teased, taking off his boots.

"Yes," she smiled. "Is it working?"

"Nope," he said, climbing under the covers next to her. "Not even a little."

He gently laid his arm across her and she rolled on her side to face him.

"Thanks," she said softly.

He nodded, and leaned in to kiss her forehead, careful to avoid her injuries.

"Goodnight, Matilda."

"Night, Daryl."


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning the group gathered around a wooden cross, situated next to the graves of Annette, Shawn, Dale and Sophia at the edge of the farm. The morning air was chilled, signaling to the survivors that winter was quickly approaching. The sun shone brightly, and cool wind whipped Tilly's hair as she and Lana sang an old hymn Maggie said her father had loved.

When the women finished, Rick stepped forward and stood at the head of the grave, an old Bible in his hand.

"For in this hope we are saved," he read. "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." He closed the book and looked toward the group.

"If I look a little uncomfortable holding this thing, that's because I am," Rick said, holding up the Bible. "But Hershel found comfort in these words. It's hard to imagine anyone could remain hopeful in this world, but he somehow managed. He never lost faith. No matter how bad things got, he always believed there was a plan, that someday we would find the light at the end of all of this."

"At one time, I thought that hope was foolish, that it made him weak." Rick shook his head. "No, it made him strong, it made him brave and unafraid," Rick's voice faltered a little and Tilly looked up to see tears running from the corners of his eyes. "He was the bravest person I've ever known. When the flu broke out in the prison, he selflessly risked his life to make sure as many people as possible survived until medicine arrived. He's the sole reason Glenn and Sasha are both still with us, and I know we're all eternally grateful for all he did. We loved him, and he deeply loved all of us. He proved that through his actions every day."

By that point, there was barely a dry eye in the circle. Even the members who hadn't known Hershel were touched by Rick's words. A few other stepped forward to share stories about the man, and they each laid a stone at the base of the cross before returning to the house to pack their things.

"We've decided to go with Abraham, Eugene and Rosita to Washington, DC," Rick announced once the cars were loaded. "We've exhausted the supplies in this area, and we can't just spend the rest of our lives going in circles. It's time to move on."

There was shock on some of their faces, but no one spoke up to disagree with the leader.

Abraham stepped beside Rick, his rifle leaned across his chest. "Our mission," he said, "is to keep Eugene alive and get him to Washington. He will continue communicating with officials on his phone, so they will be expecting us."

Tilly couldn't help but notice Eugene was acting a little fidgety while Abraham spoke, holding his satellite phone tightly against his chest.

"Have _you_ spoken to any of these _officials_?" Michonne asked. It appeared she was just as skeptical as Tilly.

"I have not, ma'am," the sergeant answered. "The information they are exchanging is classified, and I do not have clearance to hear it at this time."

She didn't look satisfied with his answer, but stayed silent, scowling slightly at the man.

Rick explained that they would first look for a gas station so they could hopefully siphon some gas and find a map, and soon their small caravan was driving off of the Green farm and onto the highway.

Tilly, Lana, Daryl and Bob once again rode in the van, with Carol joining them this time. Two other vehicles drove in front of them carrying the rest of the group.

"So," Lana began, "none of us are buying Eugene's bullshit story, right?"

A chorus of 'no' and 'no fucking way' rippled throughout the van.

"Alright," she continued, "just wanted to make sure we were on the same page."

"Why do you think Rick is going through with this?" Tilly asked to no one in particular.

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Carol answered from the passenger seat. "Like he said, it's time for us to move on anyway. Who knows, even if Eugene is lying there may still be some sort of safe zone there."

"Let's not get our hopes up," Daryl said dryly. "Ain't nowhere we've found been _safe_, and a big city like that is bound to be chock full of geeks. I think we're walking into a death trap."

"Then why didn't you say something back there?" Lana asked.

Daryl shook his head. "Not my decision."

Tilly couldn't help but wonder if they were following Rick just as blindly as Abraham was following Eugene. It seemed that no one in the group was willing to question his judgment, at least not to his face.

After a while, the caravan slowed as they pulled up next to a gas station. Three cars sat abandoned at the pumps and the front window of the building was shattered.

As everyone assembled near a light pole in the parking lot, they heard Abraham whistle.

"Walkers," he said quietly, pointing down the road. Half-a-dozen corpses shambled toward them, most likely attracted by the noise of their vehicles.

"We can handle them," Rick responded. "Daryl, Maggie, Glenn, come on."

Abraham followed behind them as well as they approached the walkers. When they were no more than 20 feet away, Daryl let an arrow fly into the head of the nearest one. The others broke off to take care of the rest.

Once they were dispatched, they returned to the parking lot.

"Alright, Daryl and I will go in and check the building. Once it's clear, Tilly and Glenn will come in and help us gather anything useful," Rick ordered. "Tyreese, Sasha, Rosita and Bob, I want you all to siphon as much gas as you can out of those cars. The rest of you keep watch. Yell if there's any trouble."

Tilly took her place beside Glenn outside of the gas station while they waited for Rick to give the all clear. She heard a crash, followed by the _whoosh_ of Daryl's crossbow, and then the men came back outside.

"It's clear," Rick said. "Let's see what we can find. I'll look for a map."

Tilly and Glenn put tucked their guns away and followed them into the store. A lone walker laid on the ground under a stack of boxes, a hole in his forehead where Daryl's arrow once was. The shelves were already picked over, but they managed to find three large jugs of water in the break room, along with a box of granola bars, some instant coffee and a few lighters. Rick grabbed a map of Georgia as well as a map of the United States from beside the counter and stuck them in his bag.

"Nothing else to find here," he started. "Let's go back-"

"Rick!" He was interrupted by a frantic whisper from the front door. Tilly looked up to see Tyreese poking his head inside. "Guys, we have to move! Walkers!"

The four of them ran outside as Tyreese pointed in the direction of the walkers they killed earlier. A herd of what looked like several hundred undead lumbered in the distance.

"Shit!" Rick whispered, waving for everyone to come to him. "Alright, they're still pretty far off, we have time. Load what you have so far into the cars and we'll get out of here. We can stop to gas the cars when we've put some distance between us."

Everyone nodded and began quickly, but quietly, shoving their discoveries into the cars.

A scream erupted from the front of the van and Tilly rushed toward it, finding Bob lying on the ground, a walker on top of him snapping at his face. A smaller herd of 20 or so had snuck up on them from the side.

"There's more, guys!" Tilly yelled as her boot connected with the face of the walker on top of Bob. It rolled off, and she quickly jumped on top of it and slid her knife into its rotted eye. She helped Bob to his feet and noticed blood on his torn shirt.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded. "Just ripped my shirt."

Tilly turned away from him, toward the encroaching walkers. Carol, Lana and Daryl were beside her a moment later, and they fought against the herd.

"No use!" Rick yelled from several feet away. "We can't handle them. Grab what you can, then we have to run!"

Tilly pulled her knife from the head of another corpse and bolted back toward the van, grabbing her pack and tossing Lana hers. The others did the same and then they were off, running behind Rick toward the woods.

"Come on!" he yelled as they weaved through the trees. "We need to find somewhere, a building, to hide if we can."

They all ran for several more minutes until Rick felt they had put a decent amount of space between themselves and the herds, then they stopped to regroup and rest.

Tilly's head pounded a bit, but she chose to ignore it.

"Here," Carol said, holding out a water bottle.

She took it gladly and smiled at the woman in thanks.

Rick pulled the map of Georgia from his bag and unfolded it, holding it against a tree. He and Daryl studied the map, trying to figure out how they could get back to the highway eventually.

"Hello?" an unfamiliar voice called from behind them.

The group spun around, several of them raising their guns as they stood facing a tall black man dressed as a priest.

"Identify yourself!" Abraham barked, his gun pointed at the man's head.

The preacher raised his hands in surrender. "Gabriel Stokes," he choked out. "F-Father Gabriel Stokes. I mean you no harm."

"Are you armed?" Rick pried.

"Only with the word of God," he answered.

Rick motioned to Daryl to keep his crossbow trained on the man as he approached him. Without saying a word, he began to pat Gabriel from the shoulders down, checking him for any weapons. Finding none, he stepped back and motioned for him to put his arms down.

"Are you alone?" Rick asked.

"Yes," he replied. "I have a church about a mile from here, but I've been alone since this began. Do you guys happen to have any food?"

Lana reached into her pack and pulled out a granola bar, passing it to the preacher.

"Bless you, thank you," he said gratefully. "If you all are willing to spare a bit more, I could give you shelter for a couple of days."

Tilly scanned the man with her eyes. He looked harmless and generally terrified, but she was wary of anyone who claimed to have been alone this long.

"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick asked, beginning his standard list of questions.

"None," Gabriel replied.

Rick raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing the man, but he continued, "How many people have you killed?"

"None."

"Why?" Rick asked, most interested in the answer to this particular question.

"The Lord abhors violence," Gabriel answered.

"How have you survived this long without killing so much as a walker?" Daryl asked, lowering his crossbow just a bit.

"I've stayed close to my church for the most part," he explained. "This is the farthest I've been. The outbreak hit right at the end of our annual food drive, so thankfully I was able to live off of that for a long while."

Rick rubbed his chin as he thought about what the Father had said. "Alright," he said. "We'll come with you, but if you try anything I will not hesitate to kill you."

"You won't get any trouble from me," Gabriel replied, beginning to lead them in the direction of his church.

"Something's not right, Daryl," Tilly whispered to the hunter as she caught up to him. "Ever since we've been in these woods I've felt like someone was watching us."

"Probably just Father Useless up there," he replied.

"No," she shook her head. "I still feel it now."

"Just keep your eyes open," he said. "There's definitely something off about all of this."

The church was less than a mile away, and as they entered the parking lot Rick called out to Gabriel. "That's close enough. We'll have a look around before we go in," he ordered.

"Be my guest," Gabriel smiled.

Rick, Daryl and Glenn went inside the church, searching everywhere for any sign of other people or weapons while Abraham, Rosita and Carl swept the area around the building.

"Nothin' in there," Daryl announced when he returned. "If there was anything, or anyone, we would have found it."

"Go on in," Rick ordered to the group, and they all began to move their belongings inside.

"Hey, Dad!" Carl called, still looking around the back of the church.

When Rick found his son, he was staring at a shutter on the side of the building. "Look at this," Carl said, pointing to scratches in the wood. "These are deep, from knives, not walkers."

"There's something he's not telling us," Rick explained, "but for now it's safe. Let's go inside."

Night came a few hours later, and Father Gabriel brought out a few bottles of forgotten communion wine for them to share. The mood lightened a little as everyone became more relaxed, and they spoke further about their plans to go to DC.

Sasha and Bob snuggled next to each other at the end of a pew, stealing a few kisses occasionally.

"I'll be back," Bob said, kissing Sasha on the cheek. "Gotta go use the facilities."

She laughed as he stood, and he leaned down to kiss her one more time, letting his lips linger longer than normal.

"Be careful!" she called as he walked toward the front doors.

"Always am," he smiled, and then walked outside, closing the doors behind him.

As he approached the treeline, Bob turned to take one last, long glance back at the building that held all of the people he cared about. He heard a branch snap behind him, and turned just as something smashed into his head, knocking him unconscious.

When Bob began to wake, he was assaulted by the overwhelming smell of smoke. He blinked his eyes, willing them to open against the bright light of the fire that flickered in front of him. When he was finally able to focus, he found himself face-to-face with a man he'd hoped to never see again.

"Hey there, Bob," Gareth smiled, his form silhouetted by the fire light.

Bob began to panic, realizing that he was leaned against a post surrounded by several surviving members of Terminus.

"Shh, shh," Gareth comforted, "I want you to know that this is nothing personal, Bob. We would have settled for anyone."

Bob was disoriented, pain radiating through his body. "W-Wha-" he croaked, his eyes catching the glimpse of something long and dark lying across the fire.

"I'm sorry, Bob," Gareth continued, "but a man's gotta eat."

Bob's eyes grew wide as he looked down at the stump where he leg once was. He looked toward the fire again, now realizing what they were cooking.

Gareth grinned maniacally as Bob put the pieces together. "If it makes any difference," he said, holding a piece of meat to his mouth and taking a bite, "you taste much better than we expected."

"HA!" Bob cried. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed madly in the face of the cannibal.

"What the fuck, dude?" another of the Termites questioned, his mouth full of meat. "You lost your damn mind?"

"You're eating tainted meat!" Bob howled.

"What the fu-" Gareth gagged as Bob raised his shirt, revealing the bite he sustained at the gas station and had hidden from the group.

"Oh, my God!" Gareth screamed, and the Termites began shoving their fingers down their throats, trying for force themselves to vomit.

"TAINTED MEAT! TAINTED MEAT!" Bob continued to scream, his insane laughter echoing through the camp.

Back at the church, the others were gearing up to search for Bob, who hadn't yet returned. Sasha began to panic, accusing Father Gabriel of being involved in his disappearance.

"You know something!" she yelled at him, Tyreese, Rick and Abraham stood behind her in case the preacher lashed out. "You show up, and all of a sudden Bob is missing!"

"I-I don't know anything," Gabriel stammered. "I promise you, I haven't hurt anyone."

Rick stepped in front of Sasha, pointing his finger in Father Gabriel's face. "This is all too _perfect_," Rick accused. "There is no way you haven't done anything to anyone this entire time. I want you to drop the act right now and tell me what's _really_ going on, or my friend Abraham over there's going to put a bullet in your head. Got it?"

Abraham raised his gun, aiming his sights on the preacher's forehead.

Gabriel sighed, raising his hands in defeat. "The truth?"

"Yes, the truth," Rick responded.

Gabriel sat down on the platform at the front of the church, his eyes trained on the ground as he spoke. "When this all began, I was here. Alone. I heard things outside, so I locked up to be safe. The next day, people starting coming. Only a few at first, neighbors, members of my congregation, then more as the days went on."

"You left them out there," Tilly accused, realizing where his story was going.

"Yes," he nodded, "I turned them away. I needed the food here to survive until I was rescued. I couldn't spare any. They stayed out there, though," tears began to flow down his cheeks, and he looked up at the group. "They stayed, until the dead came. Women, children, entire families… I heard their screams as they were ripped apart. Some of them called out my name, damning me to Hell for what I had done."

Rick sat back on the front pew and Abraham lowered his gun as they tried to process what Gabriel was saying.

"I chose my life over theirs," he cried. "I know what I did. I know what I _deserve_. Please," he begged, "please, just kill me. I forgive you, but please kill me. It's God's will, why he sent you here."

"No," Rick shook his head.

"They all _died_ because of me. You have to make this right."

The group sat in stunned silence as Gabriel broke into sobs, holding his face in his hands.

Tilly woke with a start the next morning, hearing a knock at the door of the church. She looked around to see the others were awake as well, with the exception of Gabriel, who had cried himself to sleep at the front of the church after revealing his story.

"Maybe that's Bob!" Sasha called, sprinting for the door.

She stopped suddenly as she opened the door and screamed.

"What is it?" Tyreese asked, and the rest of the group ran to see what had her so upset.

As they reached the door, they understood. Bob lay in a heap in front of them, one leg missing. He was breathing, but unconscious.

"Get him inside!" Rick ordered, signaling for Glenn to help him carry the man.

A gun shot rang out and Glenn cried out in pain.

"Glenn!" Maggie screamed, running toward him. Tilly caught her by the arm and held her inside.

"Everyone, inside!" Abraham ordered helping Glenn up as Rick drug Bob into the church, locking the door behind him.

"My leg," Glenn hissed, pulling up his pant leg and revealing the hole where the bullet had passed through. Maggie quickly ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of her shirt and tied it above the wound.

"Stay low!" Rick commanded.

Father Gabriel had finally woken up and joined the group. "You can take those two into the Sunday School rooms and treat them," he offered. Rick and Tyreese picked up Bob and carried him into one of the rooms, while Tilly and Maggie helped Glenn to another.

Maggie cleaned and stitched Glenn's wound as well as she could, and hoped that the bullet hadn't done serious damage. She had picked up a bit of medical knowledge from her father, but she was nowhere near as skilled as he and Bob were.

In the other room, Carol worked to clean Bob's stump, while Sasha looked on.

"There's blood on his shirt," Sasha informed Carol. "Whoever did this may have stabbed him or something, too."

Carol nodded, and stood to raise his shirt. "Oh," she gasped, her mouth hanging open.

Sasha rushed to her side, clasping her hand to her mouth as she looked at his wound. "No, no, no," she cried. "That's not-"

"It's a bite, Sasha," Carol confirmed. "I'm sorry." She reached for the gun tucked in the back of her pants, but Sasha grabbed her hand.

"Please," she begged, "I know what has to be done, but can we at least wait a while to see if he wakes up? I need to talk to him. Please."

Carol paused for a moment, considering her options before finally removing her hand from her weapon. "Alright," she said. "Hopefully he'll be able to tell us who did this to him. You'll have to stay with him, though. Let us know when he wakes up. Rick will want to talk to him."

Sasha nodded, and sat down on the floor next to Bob, who was sweating profusely. His breathing was shallow and quick, but he was still alive for the moment.

"I'm so sorry, Bob," Sasha whispered once Carol had returned to the sanctuary with the others. "I'm sorry that I let you go out there alone. I'm sorry that I waited so long to show you I cared about you. I'm sorry I can't save you."

"Hey, shhhh," Bob's voice was weak as his eyes fluttered open. "Don't be sorry," he said, a weak smile on his lips. "I got the chance to be with you. It may not seem like it as I lay here now, but I'm the luckiest man in the world."

Tears rolled down Sasha's face as she looked into his eyes. They somehow remained calm and joyful despite the fact that he was dying.

"Rick will want to talk to you," she explained, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "You up for it?"

Bob gave her a weak nod and she went to fetch Rick.

"Hey," Rick greeted as he walked into the makeshift infirmary, lying his hand on Bob's shoulder for a moment. "Can you tell me what happened to you?"

"Gareth," Bob replied.

"Gareth?" Rick was shocked. "He's alive?"

Bob nodded. "He's not the only one. There are several members of Terminus out there. They have a camp. They've been _hunting_ us. They cut off my leg and ate it. I told them I was infected, then I passed out. I guess they brought me back when they realized I wasn't of use to them anymore."

Rick shook his head, swallowing the bile that rose in his throat at Bob's tale. "Is that why you left last night?" he asked.

"I didn't want Sasha, any of you, to see my like this," he answered. "It happened at the gas station."

Rick stood and began to walk back toward the sanctuary. "We'll find them. I promise. Know that they'll pay for what they've done."

"Rick?" Bob called out, and Rick turned back to face him. "Thank you for everything."

Rick nodded in acknowledgment. "We'll take care of Sasha. So don't worry about that."

"I know," he replied. "I'm not worried about that at all."

The men exchanged one last glance before Rick returned to the others.

"It's Gareth," Rick announced as he walked into the sanctuary, the others spinning to face him.

"What?" Daryl asked. "But you-"

"Yeah, I shot him," Rick interrupted. "He survived, so did several others. Bob says they have a camp nearby and have been hunting us."

"Hunting?" Tilly asked, confused.

"For food," Rick answered. "Bob was bitten at the gas station, which is why he left."

_He said it just ripped his shirt,_ Tilly thought. _How could I have not noticed the bite?_

"He wandered off into the woods to die," Rick continued. "The captured him, cut off his leg and," he paused, not wanting to finish the sentence, "they _ate_ it."

"Oh, God," Lana gasped, turning to empty the contents of her stomach between two pews. "Sorry about that, Father," she said as she stood up.

"No apology needed," Gabriel replied, a look of disgust on his face.

Rick explained how Bob had revealed he was infected and they dumped him back in front of the church.

"They must've hung around to see if they could find a replacement," Abraham added. "Speaking of," he said, turning to Maggie, "Glenn alright?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "He'll be fine. He's sleeping."

A sudden gunshot made everyone jump, and a tearful Sasha made her way into the room, tucking her gun into the back of her pants. No one needed to ask what had happened.

"We're going to find them," Rick said, his face hardened in determination. "We're going to make them pay. We leave after dark."


	13. Chapter 13

Night had fallen, and Rick stood in front of the church, briefing the group on his plan.

"We'll only take a small group. I don't think they're waiting for us outside anymore. They just wanted to scare us," he said confidently. "So we're going to do the opposite of what they expect. We aren't going to _hide._ We're going to find them."

Abraham stepped up beside the leader. "Rick and I have discussed the best plan of action. Daryl, we'll need you to help us find them. Do you think you'll be able to track them down?"

Daryl nodded, "We know the direction the shot came from. We didn't hear a car when they left Bob, either, so chances are they're close, walking distance. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Good," the sergeant continued. "Michonne, you'll be coming as well."

The woman nodded silently, her mouth pressed into a firm line.

Rick scanned the group for a moment, thinking. "We also need someone who is a good shot."

"Tilly is," Lana spoke up, pointing to her friend. "She kicked mine and my brother's asses every time we went to the range, shot competitively for a while."

"Why didn't you mention that sooner?" Rick asked Tilly.

She shrugged. "Haven't had much use for guns since we've been with you so far."

"Well, we have use for them now," he said. "You up for it?"

"Absolutely," she nodded. "Let's kill those bastards."

Gabriel stood from the front pew. "Now, I'm afraid I can't condone this type of vengeance. I think we should just leave, get far away from them."

"They'll follow us," Daryl said. "They've been following us since we left Terminus. What makes you think they would stop?"

"He's right, Gabriel," Rick began, "they won't stop. You'll be coming with us, too. I'm still not keen on leaving you here with my children, and you're more familiar with the area than we are. You could be of some assistance if Daryl loses the trail."

Gabriel hung his head. "Ok, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be any help in a fight."

"We assumed that," Abraham replied.

Rick clapped his hands together, "Alright, I'll speak to all of you who are coming with us in the back. The rest of you, stay quiet and stay away from the doors until we're back. No one else leaves."

A few minutes later, after being briefed on the plan by Rick the group set out, easily finding the hunters' trail at the edge of the woods in front of the church.

"Dumb bastards didn't even know enough to much up their own trail," Daryl scoffed as he walked through the trees, his eyes on the ground.

The forest was only lit dimly by the moon, and Tilly was impressed he was able to follow their trail in the dark.

They walked for another hour, Daryl continually reminding them all to walk more quietly.

"There's a neighborhood just beyond those trees there," Gabriel said, pointing ahead of them.

"Seems to be where the trail leads," Daryl nodded. He put his finger to his lips, shushing them all once more as he crouched lower and walked toward the neighborhood.

"A group of them left the church a little while ago," a man's voice said from the other side of the tree line.

"But part of their group is still at the church?" they heard someone else ask.

"That's Gareth," Rick whispered. "You all know the plan. Get to your places and wait for my signal. Keep your eyes open."

Everyone nodded and broke off to assume their previously decided positions.

"You think they were headed after us?" the first man questioned.

"Nah," Gareth said, "we have them scared. Probably just went out to search for supplies. I'm surprised they risked coming out, though, after we shot their man. I want to you go back to the church, try and grab another one. Someone's bound to get stupid and come out the use the bathroom eventually."

Tilly watched the hunters through the trees as they spoke. Gareth sounded incredibly confident he was going to take out their entire group, and the rest of them were inspired by his swagger.

"You know what," Gareth continued, "get more than one if you can. If we get their numbers down we'll keep them afraid. We can probably capture them all in a few days if we're careful."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Rick called, stepping out of the trees and into their camp.

The Termites pointed their guns toward the man, but Gareth raised a hand, signaling them to lower them as he approached Rick.

"Well, well, if it isn't _the_ Rick Grimes," Gareth smiled. "You guys did a pretty good number on our base. Bet you thought you'd made a clean getaway, huh?"

"We did," Rick nodded. "Til you showed up and tried to _eat_ one of my people."

"Sorry about that, Rick," Gareth replied. "I have to feed my group somehow, and there aren't exactly a ton of people around for us to hunt anymore."

Rick's hand hovered at his hip, fingers brushing the handle of his python. One of the hunters noticed and raised his gun.

"Nuh uh," Gareth clicked his tongue and pushed the man's gun back down. "We're just talking. We're not going to shoot you while we're talking. Plus, we're not big on guns anyway. We don't exactly have the option of refrigeration, so we need to keep our game _fresh_."

Rick struggled to keep his disgust and rage hidden as he listened to Gareth say these things, a smile still on the cannibal's face.

"Let's just cut to the chase," Rick injected. "Is any amount of talking going to convince you to stop coming after our people?"

"Probably not," Gareth shrugged. "If we don't hunt, we starve. I'm afraid it's us or you."

Rick nodded. "I figured you'd say that. You mind telling me what happened to you all to make you turn to this?"

"It's simple," Gareth explained, "we were hungry. Animals are hard to catch, fast, cunning. We needed easier game, so we did what we had to do. You know what a bear will do if it's starving, Rick? A bear will eat it's own cub if there's no other food. The logic is, that if the bear starves, the cub will die anyway. If the bear survives, it can always make another cub."

"I fail to see your point," Rick replied, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

"We had children with us at first," Gareth continued, clearing his throat. "Needless to say, once we got past that eating strangers was easy."

Rick struggled to keep from launching himself at the man. He spoke so factually about the unthinkable things they had done, showing no remorse whatsoever.

"You're all going to pay for the things you've done. Tonight."

Gareth laughed, "I'm afraid you're not leaving, Rick. We're all pretty hungry after our last meal fell through."

"You didn't think I'd come alone, did you?" Rick replied.

"He's bluffing," a man in a baseball cap scoffed.

"Am I?" Rick asked. "Watch this." He held his hand in front of him, making a gun with his fingers and pointing it toward the man in the hat. "Tilly, baseball cap. Right ear. Pow."

As soon as the last word left his mouth, a gunshot sounded and the man dropped to the ground, blood spilling between the fingers of the hand he held against his ear.

The rest of the hunters gasped, stopping to stare at their friend.

"Abraham," Rick yelled, "come take their guns."

"Yes, sir," the sergeant answered, stepping out of the trees.

Another one of the Termites stepped forward, pointing his finger at Rick. "We're not giving up our guns! You're still outnumbered, asshole."

Another gunshot rang out, and the man's finger fell to the ground, blood pouring from his hand as he screamed.

"Hand them over," Abraham ordered, beginning to snatch the guns.

The smile finally disappeared from Gareth's face as Abraham took possession of the last of their weapons. He stepped closer to Rick, hands raised.

"Look, Rick," he pleaded, "it doesn't have to be like this. We'll leave your people alone."

Rick shook his head. "It's a little late for that," he replied. "It's us or you, remember? Well, I choose us." With that, he kicked the man in the stomach and watched as he crumbled to the ground.

Rick whistled, and Tilly, Gabriel, Michonne and Daryl revealed themselves.

"Oh, hey," Gareth called out when he recognized Michonne, "we, uh, we have your sword. You can have it back, take whatever you want and just go. We won't give you any trouble."

A smile crossed Michonne's face as she spotted her katana lying across a nearby picnic table. "Don't worry," she said, "I'll definitely be taking that with me."

Panic showed on the faces of Gareth and the rest of his group as they stood frozen.

"What are you going to do to us?" he asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Rick replied. "Still thinking about that one, but I can tell you it won't be good. Maybe we'll carve off a piece and have us a taste."

Gabriel stood at the edge of the woods, clutching a Bible against his chest. "Rick, I-"

Rick held up a hand to silence the preacher.

"Please," Gareth begged from his knees, tears running down his face. "Just leave us here. We'll leave your people alone."

"That's not what you were saying a minute ago," Rick replied, pulling his gun from the holster. "If I recall, you just told me you planned on hunting down all of my people and _eating_ them. Don't worry, though," he continued, "we're not really going to eat you."

Rick began walking toward the terrified hunters, and the rest of his group followed. "You may not want to watch, Gabriel," he called, not looking at the preacher. "Guys, put him on the picnic table. Hold him down."

The rest of the night passed in a flurry of blood, fire and painful cries as Gabriel sat weeping, his head buried in his Bible.

When the group stepped back from the massacre, the ground was littered with what was left of the hunters.

Gabriel stood, shaking his head, "I'm sorry, but this in unacceptable." Tears ran down his face. "There's no way to justify this… brutality."

Tilly stepped in front of him, her face inches from his. "What the fuck is your problem?" she yelled, rage oozing from her words. "These people killed and ate their _children._ They wanted to do the same to us. We stopped that. I know it's hard, but maybe if you had _seen _the faces of those people you abandoned getting ripped apart, instead of hiding inside like a goddamned coward, you'd be willing to do _anything_ to keep it from happening again."

She felt Daryl's hand on her shoulder, guiding him away from the man as the others stood in shock, but agreement, at her outburst.

"Let's get out of here," Daryl said, putting his arm around her waist and turning her toward the direction of the church, the others following behind them.

The group reached the church before sunrise, and Rick volunteered to keep watch, unable to sleep after what just happened.

"Rick, we're going to need to talk about-" Abraham began after the rest of the group had gone inside.

"Not now, Abraham," Rick pleaded, sitting on the steps of the church. "I just need a minute."

Abraham nodded and went inside.

As Rick sat, staring at the horizon as the dark sky changed to shades of orange, he tried to justify to himself the barbaric things they had done that night.

He heard the door to the church open behind him, but kept his eyes forward.

"Abraham," he began, "I'm sorry I blew you off. I know we're running low on food, and I promise we'll take off soon. I just can't shake the feeling that I took it too far. I know they needed to die, for what they did to Bob, to all of those other people, but with what we've done to survive… sometimes I think we're no better than them. I can see their faces when I close my eyes." He rubbed his palms against his eyelids, trying to shake the images from his brain. "What we did to them after we took their weapons… I can see every bit of blood, every crushed skull, every severed limb. We _mutilated_ those people while the others watched. How am I supposed to look my children in the face after what we did?"

All Rick received in response was silence. "Abraham?" he called, turning around.

It wasn't Abraham that stood behind him, but Carl, tears streaking his cheeks.


	14. Chapter 14

Much like Rick, Tilly and Daryl were unable to get any sleep after they returned. They sat together in the church office. He swiveled slowly from side-to-side in the black, padded chair behind the desk while she sat perched on top of a small cabinet, her feet dangling above the ground.

"Do you think what we did was right?" Tilly asked, staring at the droplets of blood spattered on her jeans.

He shrugged as he spun one of his arrows between his fingers. "I don't know," he answered. "Not like they didn't deserve it, though."

"I know, I'm just having a hard time processing the things we… I did last night." She tugged at a piece of her hair, wrapping it around her finger. "I _enjoyed_ it, Daryl," she admitted. "When I heard all of the things they had done, I wanted to tear them apart with my bare hands. And then, I did. It was the most satisfying thing I've ever done, and that terrifies me."

Daryl looked up at her. Her eyes sparkled with tears, and she wiggled a dangling foot nervously.

"Am I a monster?" she questioned, looking him in the eye. "I mean, a _good_ person would never even dream of doing… _that._" She couldn't bring herself to repeat the things they had done to the hunters out loud. Images flashed in her mind of their terrified faces, pleading for mercy as they watched their friends tortured, one by one. She began to sob, covering her face with her hands in a vain attempt to hide it from Daryl.

"God, Tilly, no," Daryl answered as he got up and walked over to her. Though he felt comfortable around the woman, he was still clueless as how to go about comforting her. Until then, she'd always managed to put on a brave face, so he knew it must have really bothered her.

"Come here," he ordered. She looked down at him from the cabinet, her face red and cheeks wet. He reached his hands out and put them under her arms to lift her down in front of him. "Ain't nothing wrong with you, Matilda," he whispered, brushing the hair from her face. "We don't have to like what we did. But we ain't wrong for doing it."

Tilly sniffed and wiped her eyes with her hand. "You don't regret it?"

He shook his head. "I'm not saying it doesn't bother me, but I'll never regret doing something to protect the group."

Tilly managed a small smile, grateful for his reassurance. "I guess if the worst thing I ever do is torture a group of child-eating cannibals I'm doing ok."

Daryl chuckled a little and pulled her into a hug. "Yeah," he nodded, "you're doing ok."

They stood there for a long moment, pressed against one another.

Daryl felt a little uncomfortable seeing her in that vulnerable state. Even though she tried to make light of the situation, he could still see the pain in her eyes.

"I'm sorry to get all weepy and dramatic," she apologized, breaking their contact. "I said it myself, if you let things get to you you'll end up getting yourself killed."

"No," he said, his brow furrowing, "don't apologize. Ain't like this is a little thing, and it _just_ happened. It happens to us all at some point. Messed me up when I had to put Merle down." He blinked his eyes hard, trying to push that memory back out of his head. Few things got to him anymore, but losing Merle, no matter how much of an asshole he was, broke his heart.

"What was your brother like?" Tilly asked. He had mentioned his brother, and that he died, but she didn't know anything else about him.

"You wouldn't have liked him," he answered. "No one did. Hell, _I_ didn't like him most of the time, but he was all I had. He went missing for a while during a run into Atlanta. Rick cuffed him to a roof 'cause he attacked another guy in the group. He got left behind. We went back for him, but he'd cut his own hand off and disappeared."

Tilly's hand flew to her mouth to cover her shocked expression. "He cut off his hand?"

Daryl nodded. "Tough son-of-a-bitch. We came across him a few months later. He was living in Woodbury, working for the Governor."

"The guy who attacked the prison?" she asked.

"That's the one. It's a long story, but Merle chose me over him. He tried to kill that asshole, but he got Merle first. I found him, and put him down." His voice shook a little as he said the last part, but his face remained expressionless.

"God, Daryl, I'm sorry," she reached up to touch his cheek. He flinched a little at her touch, an old habit, but momentarily returned the gesture, stroking his thumb over her cheek bone.

"He died trying to do something good for once in his life. That counts for something, I guess," he replied.

Tilly smiled, "He wasn't really _all_ you had, you know. These people really seem to care about you, value you. You have all of them."

"I know that now," he said.

"You have me too, ya know," she whispered, her eyes suddenly becoming more intense as she looked up at him through her lashes. "If you want me, that is."

Daryl's heart pounded in his chest as he nodded. "I do."

Tilly wrapped an arm around his waist and pressed herself to him, her other hand tangling in his hair and pulling his mouth to hers. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her, maybe it was the events of last night, but she needed him terribly in that moment.

He matched her urgency, gripping the sides of her shirt and pressing her against the cabinet. The hard wood bore into her back, but she didn't care. He allowed his hands to roam, caressing her sides, and then running them down the side of her thighs.

Tilly pressed her hand firmly onto his chest, running it slowly down his stomach and letting it rest at the waist band of his jeans. His breath hitched in his throat as he felt her fingers graze the sensitive skin right above the button. Her fingers found the buckle of his belt and began to pull at the dark leather.

"Hey!" Tyreese called, banging on the door. "Rick wants to talk to all of us."

Tilly let out a deep sigh, unwillingly pulling her hand away from his belt. "Goddamn it," she whispered.

She looked at Daryl and saw his chest heaving, his eyes were closed he stood with one hand on her waist and the other bracing himself against the cabinet.

"You alright?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

She smiled as he worked to calm himself down and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

He stepped back a bit, allowing her the space to move away from him and make her way into the sanctuary. He hung back in the office for a moment, gathering himself. He silently chastised himself for getting all worked up over a woman, though he had to admit he enjoyed the time he spent with her. Most of his life he'd found girls to be more trouble than they were worth. It was different with Tilly, though. She didn't need him to take care of her. She was remarkably capable and didn't cling to him the way other women he'd been involved with had. She was the kind of woman who he could fight along-side, and he respected her. _But, god, does she drive me crazy._

In the sanctuary, the others talked amongst themselves as they waited for everyone to assemble. Sasha sat next to Tyreese, who had his arm draped around his sister's shoulders. He leaned over and kissed her on the top of the head as she stared at the floor.

Lana and Tara sat next to each other, both turned around backwards, talking to Maggie and Glenn who sat behind them.

"Hey," Tilly greeted as she took a seat next to Glenn, "good to see you're alright."

"Hurts like a bitch, but Eugene says I should be healed up in a few weeks," he replied.

"He a doctor now, too?" Tilly asked, smiling.

"Who the hell knows what he is," Lana laughed.

Glenn shook his head, "I don't know, he just came in and rubbed some kind of gunk made out of tea leaves and candle wax on it and told us to wrap it up."

"Voodoo witch doctor, maybe?" Tara injected, making the rest of them laugh.

Daryl walked into the room, nodding at Tilly and then taking a seat next to Carol.

"Good," Rick began, "we're all here."

Tilly looked behind her and saw that Father Gabriel sat by himself a few rows back, not looking at Rick.

"I've spoken to Abraham and decided we will leave tomorrow, keep heading toward DC. Today, we'll take a group out to find supplies and hopefully another vehicle. We could all fit on the church bus, but we'll need a backup. "

His hand rested unconsciously on the handle of his gun as he addressed the group, and Tilly noticed a hint of sadness in his eyes. _Maybe he has regrets about last night, too,_ she thought.

"I'll take Maggie, Tyreese, Lana and Michonne with me. Father Gabriel says there's a food bank and pharmacy in town we can check out," he continued.

"Dad," Carl spoke up from the front pew, "I want to come with you."

Rick thought for a moment before nodding. "Alright, son."

"Tilly and I can go hunt," Daryl offered, slinging his crossbow onto its normal spot on his shoulder.

"Ok," Rick agreed. "Abraham, would you mind helping Sasha dig a grave for Bob? Gabriel offered him a spot in the church's cemetery."

"No problem," Abraham answered.

"Tara, you're in charge of Judith. I want the rest of you to gather anything useful from around the church. Stay close and make sure someone stays on watch. We leave in 15."

Rick turned and approached Carl as the rest of them broke off to their respective jobs.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Rick asked, laying his hand on his son's shoulder.

Carl nodded, and Rick took a seat next to him. "About this morning," he began.

"Don't," Carl interrupted. "You don't need to explain yourself to me. I was upset because you were. Dad, you have to stop doubting yourself. You did what needed to be done. They got what they deserved."

It unnerved Rick how quickly Carl defended his assault on the hunters. "They did deserve it, you're right about that," he responded. "But _we_ don't need to do those things. We kill when we have to, but we can't let it get out of hand."

"You were a cop, Dad. It was your job to make sure justice was served. You'd never have done what you did if it wasn't just," Carl said, his face serious.

Rick didn't know how to respond. His son was right. While he had done some terrible things, they were never without reason. He leaned over and kissed Carl on the head. "You're a smart kid, ya know that?"

Carl smiled back at him in response, and the two of them began getting ready to head into town.

"We'll head off east," Daryl decided as he and Tilly stood in the church yard. "Woods are heavier that way."

"Whatever you say," Tilly agreed, sticking her pistol in the front of her jeans. Over her shoulder she had a quiver of arrows and bow she found at the Termite's camp.

"You know how to use that thing?" Daryl asked, nodding toward the large bow.

Tilly rolled her eyes. "Why are you always so skeptical of my weapon abilities?"

"Never seen you use one before s'all," he shrugged.

"That's because I never have," she laughed, punching him in the shoulder. "Good a time as any to learn, I figure. C'mon, let's go."

Once they were in the woods, Daryl offered to give her a quick lesson with the bow. He showed her the proper stance and where to position her hands, then he took his knife and carved an 'X' in a tree several feet in front of her.

"Let's see what ya got," he challenged.

Tilly took a deep breath and positioned herself as he had showed her. She raised the bow and pulled back the string, then let the arrow fly toward the tree. It whizzed past it and clunked against a large rock.

"Nice one, Robin Hood," he smirked, and she felt herself blush.

"Shut up, dude," she answered. "I bet you weren't an ace right off the bat either."

Daryl shook his head and chuckled. "Nah, damn near hit Merle in the leg first time I tried. I ain't gonna kick your ass like he did mine, though, so don't worry."

"Like you could anyway," she teased, repositioning herself and readying another arrow.

He studied her face as she pulled the arrow back, focusing on her target. He noticed how her eyebrows furrowed and she bit her tongue as she aimed.

"Just relax," he advised. "Don't think about it. Just point and let it fly."

Tilly released the breath she was holding and let go of the string. The arrow stuck with a dull _thud_ into the bark of the tree, about a foot above the arrow. "At least I hit the tree that time," she smiled.

Daryl nodded, enjoying the excitement on her face. "Yeah, you'll get there. C'mon, let's see if we can't find something alive for you to shoot."

As they wandered between the trees in search of prey, Daryl took the lead as usual, managing to get three squirrels. He allowed Tilly to take a shot at a rabbit, but she was no match for the moving target and her arrow stuck unceremoniously in the dirt.

That afternoon, they stopped by a creek to get some water and rest. Tilly wanted nothing more than to jump into the water and clean herself but the cooler temperature, and current company, helped her resist the urge.

"What do you miss most about before?" Tilly asked as she splashed a bit of water on her face and ran it through her hair.

"Not a damn thing," he answered. "Aside from the people walkin' around trying to eat me, this really ain't that different."

Tilly pursed her lips, unsure of how to respond. She felt for the man, for the hard life he had lived.

Daryl noticed she was uncomfortable. "Alright," he smirked, "I do miss pizza." He was beginning to pick up Tilly's habit of using humor to deflect awkward situations. It seemed to go over better than his usual penchant of scowling and walking away.

"Oh fuck, what I wouldn't give for a pizza," Tilly sighed, her mouth watering at the thought.

"What about you?" he asked. "What do you miss most?"

"That's easy," she responded. "I miss bourbon."

Daryl threw back his head and laughed. "Bourbon? That's the last thing I expected you to say. Didn't take you for a drinker."

Tilly rolled her eyes and went to sit down in front of him. "I grew up in Kentucky, Dixon. They'll practically kick ya out of the state if you can't hold your bourbon."

"I hear ya'll make some kick- ass fried chicken, too," he smiled.

"I make _the_ kick-assiest fried chicken you've ever set upon your taste buds," she answered proudly. "We ever get our hands on a real kitchen I'll show ya how it's done."

"I'm gonna hold ya to that," he promised. "We should get back at it." He stood and slung his crossbow onto his back, and Tilly collected her gear as well.

The two of them worked their way down the creek, checking for any game.

"Shh!" Tilly whispered, pointing ahead of them. There stood a large doe, her head turned in their direction, looking Tilly right in the eye. Daryl raised his crossbow and pointed it at the heart of the animal.

Suddenly, there was a rustling of brush to their left. It startled the deer, and it took off as Daryl pulled the trigger. The arrow grazed its back leg, but the deer bounded out of sight.

"Motherfucker," he swore, lowering his weapon. He turned his head toward the noise, ready to murder whatever it was that made him lose his kill. It didn't take him long to recognize the sound of shuffling feet on the leaves.

A pair of walkers approached them. They groaned as they shambled toward them, their arms stretched out in search of flesh. Daryl put a bolt between the eyes of a woman with half of her face missing. Her once-pristine sweater set and khakis were dark and dingy with blood and decay, and her body crunched against the stiff leaves as she hit the ground.

Tilly approached the other corpse and shoved the large man to the ground, landing on top of him. He managed to grab her right hand, the one that held her knife, and she struggled to get it free as he grabbed at her with his other mangled hand.

Daryl saw the struggle and rushed over to help, shoving the bolt he had removed from the female walker into the head of the one under Tilly. The grip of its hand weakened and Tilly shook it off, getting back onto her feet. She nodded at Daryl in gratitude, and then turned to scan the rest of the area.

She froze suddenly, her eyes growing wide and Daryl soon saw what had startled her. A herd of at least two dozen undead were walking toward them, their eyes locked on the pair.

"Too many," he whispered, grabbing her arm. "We gotta go."


	15. Chapter 15

They ran as quickly as the terrain allowed, trying to find a place to hide until the herd passed. The ground was thick with leaves and limbs, and Tilly couldn't help but feel like she was back in high school running hurdles as she leapt over the debris.  
>As she cleared a particularly large log, she heard a bang beside her.<br>"Fuck!" Daryl yelled from the ground, holding his ankle. She stopped and rushed back to his side, but he waved her off. "Go on! I'll catch up."  
>"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard, Daryl Dixon," she accosted as she bent down to place his arm over her shoulder. "Get up, we gotta go."<br>With her assistance, he got to his feet and the two of them continued hobbling through the woods. As they crested a hill, they were greeted by a small cabin, the yard grown up with weeds.  
>"There!" Tilly pointed. "It'll be dark soon and you're in no shape to make a run back to the church. We'll wait them out here."<br>Daryl grunted in agreement and she led him to the house, the geeks out of sight for the they were inside, Daryl hopped to a nearby chair as Tilly quickly locked the door and pushed a couch in front of it before taking a seat herself.  
>"You alright?" she asked, trying to catch her breath.<br>Daryl was busy rubbing his ankle. "Hurts like a som'bitch but I just twisted it, ain't broke. I'll be fine."  
>"Let me see," Tilly ordered, walking over to him and taking a seat on the floor by his feet.<br>"Nothin' _to_ see," he insisted, but she had already lifted his foot into her lap and was unlacing his boot. He leaned back in the chair in defeat and allowed her to examine it.  
>Tilly gently tugged off his boot and rolled his sock down below his ankle. The skin was a little swollen, but there was no bruising to be seen.<br>"I don't even think it's sprained," she explained, "but you should still stay off of it for a while. Seems like we're stuck here for the night anyway. I'll see if I can find something to wrap it."  
>"Don't worry about wrap-"<br>"Stop it," she interrupted. "We don't want you to hurt it worse once we get moving again. I'm not packing your ass all the way back to camp."  
>"Whatever," he huffed, crossing his arms across his chest.<br>Tilly shook her head as she went to explore the rest of the cabin. The place was too small for someone to live in full-time, and from the taxidermied animals on the walls she decided it was most likely a hunting cabin.  
>Daryl found it hard to sit still while he waited for her to return. The livingroom where he sat was connected to a small kitchen, and he rose to go see what he could find in the cabinets. Hobbling as well as he could on his aching, bootless foot he made his way into the dark area, pulling out his lighter to ignite a candle that sat on the small table. The sun was getting lower, and the small windows scattered around the cabin didn't let in much light.<br>He picked up the candle and raised it to each of the cabinets as he opened them. They were mostly bare, but he found a couple of cans of ravioli, a deck of cards and an unopened bag of barbecue chips. He set them on the table and bent to open the cabinet under the small sink. In the back corner he could make out the outline of a large bottle. As he wrapped his hand around the glass bottle and pulled it into the light he smiled at the dark liquid inside.  
>"What are you doing up?" He spun around to face the redhead, who stood in the doorway holding a roll of bandage in one hand, the other hand shoved in her pocket.<br>He stood and motioned toward the table. "Found us some food," he answered. "Found this, too." He smirked as he held up the half-full bottle of whiskey for her to see. "I'm gonna call your bluff on being able to hold your drink."  
>A smile washed across Tilly's face as she slowly pulled her hand from her pocket, holding it out to him. "And I found something besides a bandage that might make your ankle feel a little better." In her palm sat a small plastic baggie. Daryl laughed as she passed it to him and he examined the dark green buds inside.<br>"Looks like we got us a party," he said. "Better make sure this place is secure before we let our guard down, though."  
>Tilly nodded and tossed him the bandage. "Wrap your ankle. I'll make sure we're all locked up."<p>

Once she was sure all of the windows were locked, Tilly shoved a heavy shelf in front of the back door and went to rejoin the hunter. He had replaced his boot over his bandaged ankle and was sitting at the table with two glasses and a couple of forks. He shuffled the deck of cards and looked at her as she sat down across from him.  
>"You play poker?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.<br>Tilly nodded as she grabbed the plastic bag and began breaking up the herb and placing it gently in the small glass pipe she had found. "What're the stakes?" she questioned. "We don't exactly have money to wager, and it's too damn cold in here to play strip poker." She laughed as he rolled his eyes.  
>"Loser of each hand drinks," he decided.<br>"Works for me," she agreed.  
>They passed the pipe back and forth as they played, occasionally pausing for one of them to take a swig from the bottle when they lost a hand.<br>"You're pretty good at this, ya know?" Daryl remarked.  
>Tilly grinned at him, her buzz making her smile a little bigger than normal. "The drinking or the poker?"<br>"We've been pretty evenly matched on both accounts so far. Guess ya ain't full of shit afterall."  
>She raised an eyebrow at him. "How come you're always doubting me, Daryl? Always making me prove everything I tell you about myself."<br>Daryl shook his head, trying to break through the haze of the drink and smoke so he could explain himself. "It's not like that, Tilly. Ain't that I think you're a liar, I've just never really met another girl like you."  
>"Is that a bad thing?" she asked, setting her cards on the table.<br>"No, it's not. You're just really fucking cool. I haven't had a lot of interaction with women that weren't bar skanks or dope heads."  
>Tilly smirked as the raised the pipe in her hand.<br>"You know what I mean," he said. "Smokin' some pot in the apocalypse is a whole lot different than blowing guys for meth."  
>"So, you rolled with a rough crowd, I guess?" she asked.<br>He nodded. "Merle sold the stuff, well, what he didn't use anyway. Whenever I stayed with him there was a neverending stream of junkies coming in and out. There were plenty of men, don't get me wrong, but I think Merle enjoyed the power he had over the women. They'd do whatever he wanted to get their fix. Didn't exactly give me the best impression of you guys."  
>"You guys?" Tilly laughed. "You can't tell me you've never found a woman you were even a little interested in?"<br>"Some of them were good-lookin', I guess. The ones who weren't too strung out yet. Never had any interest in that type, though, and no decent woman ever wasted her time talking to me."  
>"Things aren't like that anymore," Tilly explained. "There is no social hierarchy. There are the strong, and there are the weak. You happen to fall into the upper class in this world."<br>Daryl averted his eyes as she spoke. He had become more confident since he had been away from Merle, but it was still difficult for him to take a compliment.  
>Tilly grabbed the bottle and took a long gulp before handing it to him. "I mean it, Daryl. You're here, alive, and all of those people who looked down on you are either dead or geeks. Seems to me you're the one who was too good for them."<br>He wasn't sure what to say. He looked up into her dark blue eyes and could see the sincerity behind them. He knew she wouldn't say anything she didn't mean.  
>"So what I'm really trying to say," she continued with a smile, "is fuck those chicks."<br>"I'll drink to that," he said, raising the bottle to his lips, coughing a little as the stout liquor slid down his throat. His body finally felt warm, even though the air in the cabin was chilled, and he felt himself loosening up a bit more. "You have a man before all this?" he asked.  
>"I did," Tilly answered. She ran her palm over her forehead as she recalled him. "We hadn't been together long before the outbreak and we were in different towns when Lana, Joe and I decided to take off."<br>"You didn't find him?" he asked curiously.  
>Tilly shook her head. "To be honest, I didn't even look. He was a good guy, don't get me wrong, but I didn't love him. I <em>did<em> love Lana and her brother, and I wasn't going to risk their lives to find him."  
>Daryl blamed the whiskey for his sudden interest in her love life, but he couldn't help his curiosity. "Do you miss him?"<br>She hesitated, looking down at the table and fiddling with a playing card. "No," she answered. "I feel bad about it, but I haven't even thought of him in a very long time. That's terrible, I know."  
>"Nah," he shook his head and grabbed her hand, "just means you know where your priorities lie. Nothing wrong with that."<br>Tilly looked up into his eyes, her head swimmy from the alcohol. She just stared at him for a moment, taking in his intense eyes and strong features. He was the most rugged, handsome man she'd ever seen, and for a moment she felt happy. She forgot about the chaos all around her and allowed herself to get lost in the moment.  
>"I don't want you to think I have expectations about this," she said softly after a moment.<br>"What are you talking about?" he asked, a puzzled expression on his face.  
>She cleared her throat, bringing herself back to reality. "I mean, I understand how things work in this world. I know people don't fall in love and run off into the sunset together anymore. They don't get boyfriends and weddings and families. I want you to know that I don't care about that stuff. I feel connected to you, Daryl, whatever that means. I think I was meant to meet you, and no matter how you feel about me, about <em>this,<em> I'm just glad to have you here."  
>Daryl hadn't really taken the time to think about their evolving relationship. He had never been one for labels, and he was glad to hear Tilly say that wasn't important to her either.<br>"I feel the same way," he finally replied. "You're important to me, and I'll do whatever it takes to keep you around." He was surprised to hear those words come out of his mouth. He had never been one to share his feelings, but the look on Tilly's face told him he had no reason to regret saying it.  
>The candlelight cast a flattering glow across her features. Her eyes sparkled and the soft, red curls framing her face glowed like fire themselves.<br>"We're done playing cards now, aren't we?" Tilly whispered, as she watched him staring intensely at her.  
>Daryl nodded, and stood, pulling her out of her chair and against him. He stood only a couple of inches taller than her, so they were nearly eye-to-eye. He smiled as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I'm really glad I found you,"he whispered against her hair.<br>A wave of joy swept through Tilly as the words escaped his lips. "Are you ready to go to bed?" she asked, giving him the same look she had given him in the church office that morning.  
>Before she knew it, she felt her feet leaving the ground, her body cradled in his strong arms. "Your ankle," she protested, afraid to injure him further.<br>"What ankle?" he smiled, taking a step toward the bedroom. A groan involuntarily escaped as he stepped onto his injured foot. Tilly noticed and began to wriggled out of his grasp, placing her feet back on the floor.  
>"See?" she laughed. "C'mon." She turned her back to him, motioning for him to hop on.<br>"You've gotta be shittin' me," he said, rolling his eyes. "A piggy back ride? You want to break your back?"  
>Tilly gave him a stern look. "Stop telling me what I'm capable of, Daryl Dixon. Hop on."<br>"If you say so," he shrugged and placed his arms around her neck. She crouched down a bit, wrapping her hands behind his knees and lifting him off the ground.  
>"I suppose it's my turn to sweep you off of your feet," she joked, and the two of them laughed as she packed him into the bedroom. When they reached the edge of the bed, she turned her back to it, letting him flop back onto the mattress.<br>"Well," she said, clapping her hands together, "my work here is done."  
>"No it ain't," he growled, grabbing her arm and pulling her down on top of him.<br>His breath was heavy as he trailed his mouth across her collar bone and up her neck, finally bringing his lips to hers. She parted them and allowed his warm tongue to slide into her mouth. She kissed him deeply for a moment before she was unable to contain herself any longer. She sat up, still straddling him and fiddled with the buttons on his shirt, her fingers clumsy from the alcohol.  
>When she finally freed the last button, she turned around to quickly kick of her boots, him doing the same before grabbing her and flipping her back onto the mattress.<br>"I guess you prefer to be in charge then?" she teased as she slid his open shirt off of his shoulders, pulling it free and tossing it to the floor. He smirked at her as he nodded, and grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt. She raised her arms above her head as he yanked it off of her and threw it to the side.  
>"Keep those up there," he ordered playfully, pinning her arms above her head with his hand. His free hand trailed slowly down her arm and onto her chest, sending a shiver through her body. The sounds of her soft moans excited him, and he released her hands momentarily as he reached around her. She arched her back a bit to allow him better access to the clasp, and in a moment her bra had joined the quickly growing pile of clothing on the floor.<br>He paused for a moment as he looked down at her soft, pale skin glistening in the moonlight that slipped through the window. Tilly brought her hands down and tugged at his belt, but he grabbed her hands and clicked his tongue.  
>"Not yet," he smiled, placing her hands back above her head. "I'm not done."<br>She was surprised at how quickly his awkwardness had gone out the window. He wasn't acting like his normal, cautious self. He was allowing himself to give into his desires, his need to feel closer to her.

Tilly awoke just before dawn to the sound of birds chirping outside of the window. She could feel Daryl's arm draped over her waist, and she rubbed her eyes and yawned before turning to face him.  
>"Morning," he greeted, already awake.<br>"Hey there," she smiled. "How long you been awake?"  
>"Not long, and I'm not exactly in a hurry to ditch the only real bed I'll have for a while."<br>"I know what you mean," she laughed. "We should probably get going soon, though. We're heading out today. Don't wanna get left behind."  
>"They won't leave us," he replied, "but yeah, we should get going."<br>They gathered their clothes and quickly got dressed before gathering their things. Tilly poured the small amount of remaining whiskey into a water bottle and stuffed it, along with the baggie and pipe into her pack, just in case they ever had the chance to relax again.  
>They took the road back to the church, the herd seemingly long past. They only encountered a few lone walkers along the way. Despite a very subtle limp, Daryl's ankle seemed fine and he managed to add two more squirrels and a rabbit to his collection before they reached the church mid-morning.<br>Another van sat out front in addition to the church bus, but it appeared the others hadn't started loading them yet, which seemed odd to Tilly.  
>"I have a weird feeling, Daryl," she explained, pausing in the parking lot.<br>"Everything's fine," he assured her, walking ahead. "Come on, I'm sure they're just waiting for us."  
>As they opened the large wooden doors and stepped inside, every eye turned to Tilly. She sensed their sadness and her stomach dropped as she scanned the room, taking count of everyone there. It appeared the group Rick had taken out had returned from their run, a stack of supplies they found piled next to the door.<br>Rick stepped forward, holding his hand out to her. "Tilly-"  
>Suddenly, Tilly felt like she might vomit. "Where," she choked out, "where's Lana?"<br>Rick bowed his head and took a deep breath before looking her in the eye. "Tilly, there was an accident."  
>Tears burned behind her eyes and she shook her head. "Where is she, Rick? Is she in the back?" She ran past Rick, toward the Sunday school rooms, but Michonne caught her by the arm.<br>"I'm sorry," the woman said sadly, "but she's dead."  
>She felt her knees weaken as a wave of nausea swept over her again. Her legs buckled, but Abraham caught her around the waist before she could hit the floor and guided her over to a pew.<br>"H-How?" she croaked. "What happened?"  
>Rick knelt down in front of her and placed a hand on her knee. "It happened in the food bank. There was a group of walkers in there and we thought we could take them. We did, but Lana got pinned in a corner and we- I couldn't get to her in time."<br>"You just left her there?" Tilly asked, rage in her voice. "You let her get eaten?"  
>"We got her out of there as quickly as we could, but she was bit," Michonne answered. "She ended it herself. Went out on her own terms."<br>Tilly couldn't move, couldn't think. She was completely unable to process what was happening.  
>"She asked me to give you this." Rick gently opened her hand and placed a piece of paper in her palm. "We're all going to start loading the cars. Take all the time you need." He gave her knee a small squeeze and nodded for the rest of the group to gather the supplies and clear the sanctuary.<br>Tilly stared at the crumbled paper for a long time, flipping it over and over in her hands, terrified of reading it. Terrified of it being real.  
>Finally, she took a deep breath and unfolded the paper. Tears rolled down her face as the familiar handwriting sprawled in front of her.<p>

_Matilda,_  
><em>If you're reading this, well, you know.<em>  
><em>Tilly, you know as well as I do, at least I hope you do, that you're going to make it in this world, with or without me. You've been by my side forever, and I've witnessed your strength first-hand. I can't imagine how hard this is for you, I know how impossible it would be for me if I were to lose you. You're going to survive, though. You're going to make it to the end of this, Tilly. You're going to make a new life. You're going to make new friends. Please, please don't let this break you.<em>  
><em>I love you more than I could possibly explain. You're my right-hand woman, my ride-or-die. I never would have made it as far as I did in this world without you. You're the strongest, most amazing person I've ever met and I could never thank you enough for all the times you've saved me, even before the world went to Hell. You're my hero, Tilly. You're going to be ok. Better than ok, even. You're going to be happy again, I just know it.<em>  
><em>Please, Tills, be strong. Live, for me.<em>  
><em>I love you forever and beyond,<em>  
><em>Lana<em>


	16. Chapter 16

Daryl sat on the soft, overgrown grass next to the pile of fresh dirt covering Bob's body, fastening two pieces of wood into a cross using a small piece of vine. When they were secure, he pulled out his knife and began to carve into the wood: _LANA. _Then he slid the knife back into his belt and shoved the bottom of the cross into the ground next to Bob's grave. They hadn't brought her body back, but he knew Tilly would want her to have a memorial.

As much as the girl could annoy him he had grown fond of Lana as well, and his heart ached as he thought of Tilly losing her. He knew exactly how it felt to lose your last connection to the world as it was. Standing, he glanced over his shoulder at the others who were loading supplies. They seemed to have it under control, so he slung his crossbow over his shoulder and walked back toward the church.

As he entered, he saw Tilly sitting at the piano at the front of the sanctuary. She played softly, her eyes closed as she ran her fingers over the keys. He walked slowly toward her, and sat down on the floor next to the piano bench, resting his hand on her back.

Though her eyes were still closed, she knew it was him. The moment he touched her she was thrust back into reality. She continued to play, but the tears she had managed to stop began to flow freely again. Her body shook as she struggled to contain her sobs. When she played the final chord of her song, she bent forward, resting her head against the instrument and tried to regain her composure.

It was no use, though. She was broken. The guilt that she had been off having a grand ole time in the cabin with Daryl while her best friend was dying was more than she could reconcile.

The others had begun to trickle back in, finished with their packing. When Tilly heard them, she looked up and saw they had all gathered around her. Carol took a seat next to her on the bench and pulled her into her arms.

"Nothing we can say is going to make it better," Carol began, "but we're here. The pain will never go away, I know that too well, but you're not alone. No matter what, you'll never be alone."

Tilly returned her embrace and allowed herself to sob into the woman's shoulder. Normally she would have been embarrassed to show the group such weakness, but in that moment she didn't care.

"I just don't know what to do now," she whispered against Carol's shirt.

Carol pulled back a bit to face her, grabbing a handkerchief from her pocket and wiping the girl's face. "You fight," she answered. "That's what we all have to do. You stay alive. That's how you honor her."

Tilly nodded as she sniffed back her tears, letting the woman's words sink in. "Ok," she choked, standing from the bench.

As they made their way toward the vehicles, she received a few hugs and words of encouragement from the other members of the group. Sasha held onto her longer than the others as they embraced, her grief fresh as well. It didn't do anything to lessen her pain, but Tilly felt a little stronger knowing they were all behind her.

She took a seat in the church bus along with Abraham, Eugene, Rosita, Tara, Daryl, Maggie and Glenn, the others piling into the large van. She leaned her head against the window and stared silently as they pulled away from the church.

For the most part, the survivors drove in silence, a sense of sadness still lingering around them from the losses they had just suffered. After several hours, it was Glenn who finally broke the silence.

Using the seats the brace himself, he approached the front of the bus and sat down behind Abraham, who was driving. "So," he began, "how did you guys meet each other?" He gestured toward the other two members of Abraham's group.

The sergeant continued staring straight ahead as he answered. "We were all part of a larger group near Houston. Short story is that we got overrun. We were all that was left at the end and Eugene told us he knew how to stop this mess. That was a few weeks ago, and we've been headed toward DC ever since."

Glenn then turned toward Eugene. "So, assuming we make it there, how long is it going to take you to fix all of this?"

"That's classified," Eugene recited.

"I thought we were past this," Maggie responded, rolling her eyes. "What harm would it do for us to know?"

Eugene hesitated before finally answering. "Well, the time it takes to resolve this depends on a lot of factors." As he continued to rattle off scientific jargon, Tilly zoned out, having no patience for his obvious attempt as dodging the question.

"Alright," Glenn said after he finally shut up, "but why the hair?"

"Because I like it," Eugene answered dryly.

Even Tilly chuckled a little at that.

"Ah, shit!" Abraham yelled from the driver seat as he slammed on the breaks, jolting them all forward. They stood to look out of the front windshield, curious as to what had made him stop. About half a mile in front of them marched the biggest herd they had encountered yet.

There was a knock at the bus door and Abraham pressed a button to open it so Rick could step inside.

"You have an alternate route mapped out, right?" Rick asked, reaching for the map that laid on the dashboard.

Abraham shook his head, "We don't have the gas, and we're making too good of time going this way. I say we push through."

"You really think that's a good idea?" Rick asked, stroking his chin.

"The vehicles are big enough," the sergeant replied, "high off the ground. We should be able to plow over them."

"This fails it's on you," Rick said, pointing his finger at the larger man before leaving to return to the van.

"I don't know about this, Abraham," Eugene added. "Get enough of those bodies piled up under the tires and we'll lose traction."

"Shut up, Eugene," Abraham spat before he slammed on the gas.

Daryl walked from the back of the bus to sit beside Tilly as they sped toward the herd, Rick and crew following behind.

"This isn't going to work," Tilly whispered, not wanting to scare the others.

Daryl shook his head. "We get stuck, you run toward the woods. Only worry about killing the ones in your way."

They were all jerked forward violently as the bus hit the first of the walkers. Though the vehicle decelerated significantly, they continued forward.

Time seemed to slow down as they rolled through the herd. The smell of rotted flesh crept through the cracks in the windows and made Tilly's stomach turn. She pulled the collar of her shirt over her nose and saw the others doing the same.

"Just when you think you've gotten used to that smell-" Glenn began.

"RICK!" Maggie shrieked, and they all turned to see that Rick's van was stuck on a pile of corpses, the tires spinning helplessly in the air.

"We have to keep going!" Abraham yelled back at her. "We go back for them we're all dead!"

The bus erupted in a flurry of screaming, everyone but Abraham believing they should go back to help the others who still were not far behind them.

Daryl got up and sprinted to the back of the van, pulling on the handle to the emergency door. "Come on!" he yelled to the others. "I'm goin' back with or without this asshol-"

He was cut short as the bus jerked violently to the side, throwing him off of his feet. Now it was their vehicle that was stuck, and it began to tilt to one side, threatening to fall over.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Abraham screamed as the bus jolted one last time and landed on it's side, the survivors being tossed along with it.

"We gotta go!" Daryl yelled again as he jumped up and popped the back door open. The others carefully got to their feet and climbed across the seats to the door, piling out one by one.

Abraham shrugged off his seat belt and helped Maggie get the injured Glenn to the door, then hoisted him over his shoulder as they exited.

Gunfire erupted as they shot in all directions, clearing a path for Rick's group to escape from the van.

"Run!" Rick yelled. "That way!" He pointed toward the woods and they began battling their way through.

Tilly shoved a roamer out of the way, then another before aiming her gun and shooting a round into the head of one to her left.

"Help!" She heard Carl's voice behind her and turned to see he was surrounded by a group of five or six walkers. Without hesitation she ran to him, shoving her way through the disgusting hands that reached hungrily toward her. She shoved her knife into the skull of one directly in front of him and Carl spun to shoot one in the forehead. She bashed in the skull of another with the handle of her gun, trying to conserve as much ammo as possible before grabbing the boy's arm.

"Come on!" she yelled, dragging him along behind her. Carl was stunned, but managed to keep up with her as they ran. They could see a few members of the group ahead, but in the moment Tilly was more concerned with getting Carl to safety than reuniting with the group.

As they neared the woods, Tilly jumped as she heard a gunshot ring out from right behind her. She spun around and was face-to-face with a middle-aged black man, his eyes wild. "Go!" He yelled, and she knew there was no time to ask questions so she did as the stranger said.

Once they were in the forest the walkers became more sporadic. The majority of the herd had stuck to the road, but there were still a number of them following, attracted by the yelling and gunshots. Ahead of her, she could make out the outlines of several of her friends and she smiled as her eyes finally spotted the familiar angel wings Daryl wore on the back of his vest.

Several minutes later, the strange man still following behind them, the walkers were out of sight. They rushed over the crest of a hill and nearly ran right into the rest of the group, who were waiting at the top.

Tilly fell to her knees in exhaustion and relief, letting go of Carl's hand as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Dad!" Carl ran into the arms of his father, and while Rick was elated to see he was safe, his eyes were focused on the stranger.

"M-Morgan?" Rick gasped.

"You know him?" Tilly asked, looking back and forth between them and seeing the look of familiarity in their faces.

Rick let go of Carl and approached the man. "Morgan?" he repeated. "How? I mean, I thought you-"

"It's me," Morgan confirmed. "I've been following you for a while now, seemed I was always a step behind you. I thought I had lost ya, but then I saw the walkers, heard the screams. I didn't know if it was you, but I hoped."

Rick was unsure of how to approach Morgan. When he had seen him last he was held up in a building surrounded by walker traps, crazy from the loss of his son Duane. He tried to talk him into coming back with him to the prison but he had refused.

"I changed my mind," Morgan said, "about coming with you. I went to the prison, but it was empty, walls all blown to pieces. Then I found the tracks, the signs for sanctuary. When I got there and saw it was gone, too, I found one of the signs all crossed out. Somehow, I knew it was you. Been tracking you ever since."

Most of the group looked on in confusion, unsure of how the two of them knew each other.

"This is Morgan," Carl stepped forward to explain. "He saved my dad when he woke up from his coma. He's the reason he was able to find us."

"Glad to see you've finally come to your senses," Michonne smirked. "Thought you were too far gone when we found you."

"I was," Morgan nodded. "I was in a dark, dark place. It took a while, but seeing you guys, seeing Rick again after going so long without seeing a familiar face, it made me realize I didn't really want to be alone. It's not like I had anything else to lose by taking off."

"I'm glad you're here," Rick smiled, stepping forward to embrace the man.

Morgan looked uncomfortable, and Tilly wondered how long it had been since he had felt human contact. After a moment, he seemed to soften a bit and returned the embrace.

The leader turned back to address the group. "It looks like we're all accounted for. Anyone bit? Scratched? Injured?"

A chorus of "no" echoed across the survivors and Rick nodded in approval. "Good, we need to keep moving. We might have put some space between us, but I'm sure that herd is still following us. We'll find a building to use as camp for the night and work out a plan to find new transportation in the morning."

Tilly stood and walked over to Daryl, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him against her side. "Glad you're ok," she said softly.

He placed his arm over her shoulder as she leaned into him. "You, too. I thought I'd lost ya back there. You went running in the opposite direction."

"It was Carl," she explained. "He was surrounded. I wasn't going to leave him."

Daryl nodded as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. He'd been worried when he turned around and saw her running full speed into the herd, but she had done the right thing. Had he heard the kid he would have gone back for him, too.

The group gathered their things and trudged onward.

Just before dark, a neighborhood finally came into sight. Rick chose a house and a few of them cleared it before they all barricaded themselves inside. As they got settled, Rick noticed Eugene placing his satellite radio back into his pack.

"How long's it been since you talked to anyone on that thing?" he prodded.

"Uh, a couple of weeks, I guess," Eugene answered.

"I think we should try it now," Rick insisted, stepping toward him. "We're well on our way, only a few days away if we're lucky. We should let them know we're coming. Give it here and I'll do it." Rick reached for Eugene's bag, pulling out the radio.

"Rick, stop!" Eugene yelled, lunging for him and attempting to pry it from his hands as the rest of the group watched in stunned silence.

"Eugene! Stop it! What are you doing?" Rick hissed as they wrestled for the device.

"You're going to break it!" Eugene scolded.

A moment later, there was a loud _bang_ as the radio flew from their hands and bounced across the floor, the battery door flying off. The compartment was empty. Eugene froze.

"Eugene," Rick began, his voice calm but accusatory, "why isn't there a battery in it?"

The scientist hung his head. "It died a couple of weeks ago. I took it out so it wouldn't corrode the radio."

"You didn't tell us?" Rage began to swell behind Rick's voice.

"I didn't want anyone to panic," Eugene defended, but the leader wasn't convinced.

"Eugene, how long has the battery compartment been empty?" Rick got in the man's face and Eugene looked like he might cry as he backed away, holding his hands in front of him.

For once, Abraham didn't jump to his aid. He stood as still as the others, anger boiling inside of him as he began to realize what was really going on.

"Was there _ever_ a battery in it?" Rick asked through gritted teeth, Eugene's back against the wall.

"No," Eugene whimpered. "Never was."

"You son of a bitch!" Abraham yelled, launching himself at the man and knocking him to the ground before kicking him in the gut.

"Stop it!" Rosita yelled as she attempted to pull her boyfriend off of the defeated Eugene. Rick grabbed Abraham's arm and pulled him away.

"You're _not _going to kill him! Got it?" Rick yelled, and Tilly swore she could almost see the smoke coming out of Abraham's ears as he stared down at the man on the floor.

Eugene continued to sob as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. Rick crouched down beside of him and spoke calmly, "Eugene, what were you? Before all of this? You weren't a scientist, were you?"

Eugene shook his head and spoke between his sobs, "High… School… Science… Teacher."


	17. Chapter 17

"What the fuck?" Abraham screamed as he lunged at the man again, but Rick stepped in front of him.

"Abraham, you need to calm down-"

"You don't know what I've been through!" he yelled, shoving Rick backward. "I've traveled across the goddamn country for him! I did _everything_ to keep this sack of shit alive, and for what?" Abraham was so angry that tears streamed down his face as he pushed closer to Eugene, who was still in the fetal position on the floor.

"People _died_ so this asshole could live. Why?" he screamed. "WHY?"

Eugene propped himself up on his elbow and faced the sergeant. "I only did what I had to do," he answered. "I'm not strong. I'm not brave. I damn sure can't get by on my looks. The only things I have going for me are that I'm incredibly intelligent," he paused, "and I'm a good liar. This was my only option." He began to sob again. "I was scared. I was so scared. I can't tell you how sorry I am."

Abraham picked up a can of beans from the table next to him and flung it against the wall, barely missing Glenn's head, before storming outside. Rick followed behind him as the rest of the group stood frozen, staring at the dejected man on the floor.

Rick found Abraham sitting on the front porch, his head in his hands. "I led a lot of people to their deaths because of this bullshit _mission_. They're all dead because of me," he confided.

"You'll drive yourself crazy thinking that way," Rick replied.

Abraham shook his head and wiped a tear from his eye. "I put this above everything else. I thought making it to Washington was the most important thing. Christ, I'm stupid."

Rick didn't want to insult the man by attempting to coddle him, so instead he got down to business. "So," Rick began, "what do we do now? Do we still go to Washington?"

"What's the point?" Abraham shrugged.

"We have enough food for now, but our group is large. It won't last long, and there aren't many places to scavenge here that haven't already been picked through. You have to figure the densely populated areas were the first to fall. They're more likely to still have food. We might as well go."

Abraham sat silently as he considered what Rick was saying.

"You never know," Rick continued, "even if Eugene was lying, it's possible there's still a place for us there. There definitely isn't one here anymore."

Abraham nodded. "Alright."

Rick clapped a hand on the man's back before he stood to go in side, allowing Abraham a minute to himself.

As stunned as the others were about what had just transpired in front of them, few of them could say they were actually surprised. When Rick reentered the house, they were all whispering amongst themselves. Eugene had moved over to sit against the wall. He rested his head on his knees, his hands over his ears to avoid hearing what the others were saying about him. He was ashamed of what he had done, and embarrassed he wasn't an actual asset to the group.

"We're still going to Washington," Rick announced as he closed the door behind him. "There's nothing left for us here, so we're going to press on."

"Don't you think it's dangerous to head toward a big city like that?" Glenn asked, daring to question the leader. "You saw what Atlanta was like. DC is even more populated."

"That's exactly _why_ we're going," Rick responded. "If it fell early there should still be supplies for us to scavenge."

"I've always wanted to go to Washington," Maggie admitted, drawing a smile from Rick.

"We won't be doing much sight-seeing," he joked, "but this is your opportunity. Get some sleep, guys. I'll take first watch with Abraham. Tilly, you up for taking second watch with Daryl?"

"Yeah, no problem," she nodded.

"Thank you. Go get some rest. I'll get you up when it's your turn."

With that, the group spread throughout the house, each picking a place to make their bed for the night.

Most of them chose spots on the floor of the spacious living room, but Tilly wanted to be alone. She grabbed a blanket and made her way upstairs. The first room she came to had obviously belonged to a teenage girl. She walked inside and laid the blanket and her pack on the bed before examining the contents of the room.

On the dresser sat a photograph of two girls, both of smiling widely. Their hair was coifed to perfection and they wore long gowns. Tilly thought back to her own senior prom. She and Lana had decided not to waste their time on the idiot boys in their class and instead went as each other's date. They were spared the romantic pressures that generally dominate prom night, and spent the entire time making fools of themselves on the dance floor.

She smiled at the memory, but the pain in her chest was undeniable. She felt a void in her heart, like half of her was missing. She ran her fingers gently over the photograph and wished all of her personal belongings hadn't been left at Terminus. What she wouldn't give to pull out her favorite photo of her and her best friend and be able to see Lana's smiling face once more.

She wiped a rogue tear from her cheek with the back of her hand and went to curl up on the bed, afraid of the dreams she might face once sleep finally came.

_A mist covered the ground as Tilly approached the familiar blue house, the moon her only source of light. She was alone. The cold nipped at her through her thin pajamas and she shivered as she reached the front porch. _

_The boards creaked under her weight as she climbed the stairs and made her way to the front door. The red paint on it was badly chipped and there was only a hole where the doorbell once was. _

_She turned the knob and pushed her weight against the door, forcing it open. _

_"Anyone home?" she called, darkness consuming the interior of the home. "Lana? Mrs. Romero? Joe?" Silence was her only answer._

_As her eyes adjusted, she walked down the narrow hallway, scanning the frames hanging on the walls. They stood empty, the portraits that once sat in them nowhere to be seen. _

_The sound of footsteps echoed from behind her, and as she turned the hallway extended out in front of her, much longer than it had ever been before. A figure stood at the end of it, shrouded in darkness. _

_"Hello?" she called, her voice trembling. "Who's there?"_

_Groaning filled the air as she dared to step closer and the figure stumbled clumsily out of the shadows. _

_She screamed as she recognized her best friend. Her long, dark hair hung limply against her gray face. Her eyes were no longer the deep brown she remembered, but instead a milky white. _

_"No," she squeaked. "No, Lana." She shook her head violently, hoping to erase the image of what stood in front of her. _

_A large wound sprawled across Lana's shoulder and her arms hung loosely at her sides. Her clothes were caked with dark gore, and her mouth snapped violently as she approached. _

_Tilly's hand shook as she reached down to the front of her pants, in search of her gun. She wrapped her fingers around the cool metal and raised the barrel to Lana's face, now only feet from her. Tears cascaded down her face, and she couldn't control her trembling. _

_"I can't," she sighed. She let the gun fall to the floor and bolted for the door. The guttural sounds of her friend still remained close behind her, even once she was outside, so she just kept running. No matter how far she ran, though, Lana was always just a few steps behind her. _

_She picked up her pace as she entered the woods. She couldn't see anything anymore. Darkness surrounded her and she soon found herself slamming into the trunk of a tree, landing with a thud on the ground as she glanced off. _

_"Matilda," she heard through the darkness. "Tilly."_

_"Stop it!" she screamed. "You're not her! You're not Lana!"_

_"Tilly!"_

_"Don't say my name! You're not her! You're a monster!" She covered her ears and rocked back and forth on the ground as she continued to scream. _

"Tilly!" Rick hissed quietly. "Wake up, it's ok."

Tilly's eyes fluttered open, and darted around rapidly, taking note of her surroundings. She wasn't being followed by the shell of her best friend, but she was lying on the ground in the woods, her knee throbbing.

"What?" she whispered as she tried to make sense of it all. "Why am I out here?"

Rick grabbed her hand and helped her to her feet. "Have you ever been a sleepwalker, Tilly?" he asked gently.

She shook her head in response.

"Well, we heard you yelling, then you came running outside and just kept going into the woods. You didn't respond when we called out to you. What were you dreaming about?"

She hesitated to answer, afraid to relive her dream. "I was just running from a walker," she answered vaguely.

"You only stopped when you ran into that tree," he explained, pointing to the large oak beside them. "Are you hurt?"

"My knee kind of stings," she answered. "I'm alright, though."

Rick bent down to examine her leg. Her jeans were torn at the knee and blood stained the fabric around the hole. "I think it's just a scrape," he said as he stood and began to lead her back to the house. "It's almost time for your watch anyway, so just hang out by Abraham and I'll go find you a bandage."

She smiled at him gratefully as she took a seat on the porch next to the sergeant.

"You alright?" Abraham asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I guess it's just been a rough day."

"I know what ya mean," he replied.

Rick returned a few minutes later with Daryl, who he'd retrieved for watch, some peroxide and a box of bandaids. He tapped Abraham on the shoulder to let him know he could go inside to sleep, then sat next to Tilly while Daryl leaned against the door frame.

"Put your leg up here," he said, motioning to his lap. She spun toward him and did as he asked. Rick gently pushed her pant leg up above her knee and began to carefully dab the large scrape with peroxide.

"I know you're going through something terrible right now," he spoke as he worked, "but we can't have you taking off like that, making all that commotion. I'd prefer if you stayed near someone else while you slept from now on so they can wake you up if it happens again."

She was a little offended that he implied she needed a babysitter, but at the same time she understood. "I'm sorry, Rick. I'm really embarrassed right now. That's never happened before, I swear."

"I believe you," he responded as he placed the last bandage and pulled her jeans back down. "It's not your fault, but we need to be careful."

She nodded and removed her leg from his lap. He stood to go inside, giving Daryl a pat on the shoulder as he walked past him.

"What was that all about? You ok?" Daryl asked, sitting where Rick had been.

"Bad dream," she answered, her eyes focused on her boots.

"Rick said you took off into the woods. Must have been a _really_ bad dream."

She bit her lip as she nodded, not wanting to elaborate.

"About Lana?" He put his hand on her leg and she turned to look him in the eye.

"Yeah," she confirmed, fighting back the tears that burned her eyelids. "I back to our old house looking for her, but I was too late. She had turned. I couldn't kill her, so I took off, but she followed me." She sniffed and turned her face upward to the sky as she willed herself to keep her composure. "I saw her face. Her eyes. It wasn't her, not anymore."

"She never turned," Daryl said softly. "I know that ain't much of a comfort, but she never had to become one of them."

"I know," she responded. "But it's all so hard to rationalize when I didn't actually see it happen, ya know? She was fine when we left, then she was just _gone_."

"That's what it was like when my mom died," he confided. "She fell asleep smokin' a Virginia Slim, lit the house on fire. By the time I got there everything was burned to the ground, her included. There was no body. She just disappeared."

Tilly took his hand in hers. She appreciated that he was willing to open up to her, and it made her feel better to know that he understood what she was feeling.

"Maggie asked me to give you something," he said as he released her hand and reached into his vest.

"What is th-" she clasped her hand to her mouth as she looked at what he held.

In his hand was a Polaroid picture, Lana's smiling face filling the frame.

"She said Lana found a camera on their run and took a few pictures before… ya know. She thought you'd want to have this one."

She gingerly took the photograph from his hand, cradling it in her palms. She smiled down at it as the tears finally escaped. "She was a photographer," she explained, "before all of this. She was really talented."

"At least she got to do it one last time," Daryl offered.

Tilly nodded as she looked back at him. "You have no idea how grateful I am to have this. It means everything."

He smiled back at her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her against his side. She leaned her head against his shoulder and for the first time since losing her friend Tilly felt ok.


	18. Chapter 18

As the sun began to rise, Daryl looked over at Tilly's sleeping form beside him. When she fell asleep a couple of hours into their watch he just let her rest. She actually looked peaceful as she laid on the porch, his jacket rolled up under her head and a blanket he had retrieved from inside thrown over her.

"Psst!" he whispered as he nudged her gently. "Hey Tills, it's time to get up."

She stirred a bit before she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Shit Daryl, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I really didn't mean to fall asleep."

"I know," he nodded, "but you needed the rest. Don't worry about it."

She gave him a small smile and passed his jacket back to him.

"You good out here?" she asked as she folded the blanket. "I'm gonna go see if Maggie's up."

"Yeah," he answered. "Go 'head."

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before she headed inside.

The living room was still dark, the light from outside only just beginning to enter through the curtains. Glenn and Tara sat at the dining room table and talked quietly as the rest of the group still slept.

Tilly was careful not to step on anyone as she made her way toward the dining room.

"Morning," she called softly as she approached.

"Hey," Tara responded, rising to give her a quick hug.

"Everything go alright out there?" Glenn asked.

"Yeah," she answered. "Nice and quiet. How's the leg?"

Glenn pulled up his pant leg a bit to reveal the wound. "Not too bad. Whatever Eugene did to it seems to have kept it from getting infected, at least."

"Yeah," Tilly nodded as she bent down a little to look at his leg, "looks like it's already starting to heal."

She walked over to an empty chair and sat down, reaching for a water bottle that sat on the table. "Maggie up yet?" she asked after she took a big sip.

Glenn shook his head. "No, not yet. Why?"

"I just need to talk to her," she answered. "I owe her big time." She pulled the photo from her pocket and laid it on the table. "She gave this to Daryl, asked him to pass it along. They found a camera on their run and took a few pictures."

Tara smiled as she reached out and grabbed the picture, holding it close to her face so she could see it better. She and Lana had become friends since they joined the group, and she was also heartbroken over the loss. "It's nice to see her again," she whispered.

Tilly nodded as Tara handed the photo back, then tucked it gently back into her pocket. "The others should be up soon," Tilly said. "Wanna help me with breakfast, Tara?"

"Sure," she answered. "This place has a gas stove so we can make oatmeal."

Tilly chuckled a little. "Well, Carl won't be too happy about that, but I'd be glad for some warm food. It's really starting to get chilly out there."

"Only gonna get colder the farther north we go," Glenn added. "If we get up there and there's no place safe to find shelter the cold might kill us before the walkers have a chance to."

"We've all survived winters out here before. We can do it again," Tilly replied before heading off with Tara to begin breakfast.

Tilly was glad to have some time to talk to Tara. She was curious about how she came to be with the group after following the Governor.

"So, you lived in Woodbury?" Tilly asked as she stirred.

Tara shook her head. "No, from what I hear Woodbury was long gone before I even met Brian. I mean, the Governor."

"How did you meet him, then?" Tilly questioned. "I mean, if you don't mind talking about it."

"No, it's fine," she replied. "He found my family holed up in our apartment. We'd been there since everything started. It was just me, my sister Lilly, my niece Megan and my dad. Dad was really sick, and Brian risked his life to get him more oxygen. He put him down after he died. We thought he was a good guy."

Tilly looked over at Tara, who had her head down and was fiddling with her nails. She obviously felt foolish for ever aligning herself with him.

"Sometimes you can't tell someone is evil right off the bat," Tilly comforted. "And sometimes, even bad people do good things."

Tara nodded slightly. "I just wish I hadn't been so blind to what was really happening when we attacked the prison. When we pulled up and I heard Rick trying to negotiate with him I began to doubt it, but it wasn't until he killed Hershel that I knew what he really was."

"You couldn't have stopped it," Tilly said, removing the pot of oatmeal from the burner. "From what I've heard the others say, he was ruthless. If you'd spoken against him he would have just killed you, too."

"You're right," Tara agreed, "but it doesn't make me feel any less guilty, especially after seeing how good this group really is."

The others were beginning to wake, and Tilly was anxious to find Maggie. "Think you can handle dishing this out?" she asked as she patted Tara on the shoulder.

"Yeah, no problem."

When she went into the living room, everyone but Eugene was awake. He laid curled in the corner under a thin blanket, clearly exhausted from the events of the previous night. As much as it infuriated her that he had lied about something so enormous, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. She understood the need to do whatever it took to survive.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Maggie shoving her belongings into her pack and ran over to her, nearly knocking her backward as she threw her arms around her.

Maggie smiled and squeezed her tightly. Tilly didn't need to say anything, she knew the reason for her sudden affection.

"Thank you, Maggie," Tilly whispered. "Thank you so much."

When she pulled back, Maggie nodded. "It's the least I could do," she said. "I'm so sorry we couldn't save her, but I hope it helps you a little."

"You don't have to be sorry," Tilly responded, surprised to hear Maggie placing some of the blame for Lana's death on herself. "This is the world we live in. Sometimes people die."

After breakfast they set out again, this time on foot. Their plan was to keep heading north until they found a town and, in turn, vehicles. They stuck to the back roads, hoping to avoid another herd, and by mid-morning they had only encountered a handful of walkers, which they easily dispatched.

Tilly kept watch at the back of the group with Michonne, while Rick, Abraham and Daryl led the pack. Luckily, Abraham had grabbed his map before abandoning the bus, so they weren't flying blind.

"You're pretty good with that thing," Tilly remarked after Michonne chopped a rogue roamer in half with her katana. "You into martial arts or something?"

Michonne smiled and shook her head. "Nah, I found it in my neighbor's house when everything first happened. I got good out of necessity."

"I guess you get a lot of practice out here," Tilly added. "Were you on your own before you joined the group?"

The smile disappeared from Michonne's face. "Was for a while. Then I ran into Andrea."

"Who's Andrea?" Tilly asked curiously.

"She started out with the group when they were all outside Atlanta. She got separated when the farm was overrun and I found her. Eventually, we were captured and taken to Woodbury." The woman's scowl deepened as she spoke the name of the town. "She decided to stay and I got the hell outta there. I found the prison after I saw Glenn and Maggie get kidnapped by Merle."

Tilly raised an eyebrow at the familiar name. "Merle Dixon?"

"The one and only," she confirmed. "He wanted them to take him to Daryl and they refused, so he took them back to Woodbury and beat them til they talked."

"Daryl told me he was an asshole," Tilly replied, "but you'd have to be some kind of prick to hurt those two."

Michonne nodded. "Don't worry," she said as she looked over at the redhead, "Daryl's nothing like his brother. I will say, Merle was loyal to him. Daryl seemed to be the only thing he cared about besides himself."

"He told me how much it got to him when he died," Tilly mentioned, immediately regretting sharing something he told her privately. She wasn't one to gossip, but luckily it seemed Michonne wasn't either.

Michonne chuckled. "You managed to get Daryl to talk about his _feelings_? You some kind of wizard?"

"Don't tell anyone," Tilly winked, making both of them laugh.

By early afternoon they had crossed the border into South Carolina, finally putting Georgia behind them. And soon after that they found themselves on the outskirts of a small town.

"We'll stop here and see what we can find," Rick informed them as he turned to face the group. "Split up into pairs and check out any place you can find on this street. Don't go anywhere alone," he ordered, shooting Tilly a look. "Glenn, keep watch with Abraham and look after Judith. The rest of you, meet back here in an hour."

As everyone paired up, Tilly felt a tap on her shoulder. "Glenn's still outta commission you wanna be my buddy?"

"Sure," she answered. "Where do you wanna check first?"

"The pharmacy is usually a pretty safe bet. We're starting to run low on medical supplies," Maggie replied, and they set off toward the small brick building.

A sharp whistle sounded from behind them and they turned around to see what was going on. Daryl stood a block away, Michonne beside him. "Be careful!" he called.

"You, too," Tilly replied before turning back toward the drug store.

When they reached the entrance Maggie reached out and tugged on the door handle. "It's locked," she sighed. "Guess that could be a good thing, though. Maybe it hasn't been raided yet."

Tilly shook her head and pulled out her pistol. "Might also mean there's someone in there. Let's try the back. Keep your eyes open."

Maggie nodded and raised her gun as well as they made their way down an alley to the back of the building. When they found the metal door that led into the store, Tilly held a finger to her lips, a sign to Maggie to be as quiet as possible.

She grabbed the half-rusted doorknob and turned it slowly. She was relieved when it turned easily, and she carefully pulled the door open, cringing as its hinges creaked.

"Shit," she whispered, hoping that if anyone _was_ inside they hadn't been alerted by the noise.

The entry led into a pitch black room. "You got a flashlight?" Tilly whispered to Maggie as they stepped inside.

"Yeah, right here," a deep voice answered. A beam of light suddenly shined upward, illuminating the face of a man, his lips curled into a chilling smile.

"Fuck!" Tilly yelled, quickly shoving Maggie back toward the door. "Run!"

As she turned, Tilly felt the man's fingers wrap around her elbow, but she wasn't about to get captured again. She kicked as hard as she could in his direction and luckily made contact with his knee. He cried out as he let go and she followed Maggie into the street.

"Abraham!" Maggie called frantically.

The sergeant quickly sprinted toward them. "What's going on?" he asked.

"There's someone in the pharmacy," Tilly answered, her heart pounding in her chest.

"How many?"

"We only saw one," Maggie responded, "but we didn't stick around to see if there were more."

"Go find Rick," he ordered Maggie. "Get him back here, and anyone else you run into along the way. He went into the restaurant down there." He pointed in the direction the leader had headed and Maggie took off.

"We don't have a lot of bandages left," Tilly told him. "We need to get in that pharmacy."

He nodded, "We will. We just need to make sure we have the upper hand. We don't know what to expect or how many of them there are. You didn't see anyone else?"

"It was really dark," Tilly answered. "When we saw him he tried to grab me but I kicked the shit out of him and we took off."

Abraham patted her roughly on the back. "Good girl. We'll figure it out."

A couple of minutes later Maggie came running back, Rick, Carl, Michonne and Daryl trailing behind her.

"Over there," Maggie pointed toward the pharmacy. "He was in the back room. The front door's locked."

"Then they won't be expecting us from the front," Rick said, the wheels in his head turning as he came up with a plan. "We don't know how many there are, so I think it's best if we hit them from both sides at once."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Carl, you go help Glenn with Judith. Anyone you don't know gets too close, don't hesitate to shoot. Abraham, Daryl and Maggie, you take the back. Michonne, Tilly and I will bust through the front. When you hear the glass break, that's your cue to enter. Make sure you have your flashlight on, you can't go in there blind."

"We trying to take them out or talk to them?" Daryl asked as he removed his crossbow from his back and held it firmly in his hands.

"Weapons raised," Rick answered. "If they surrender, we'll talk. If they fight back, put them down."


	19. Chapter 19

"You ready?" Rick whispered to the two women standing behind him, their weapons raised.

Michonne and Tilly nodded, and Rick took a brick in his left hand, his trusty Python held tight in his right, and threw it through the glass door.

Around back, Abraham flung the door open at the sound of the shattering glass and held his flashlight above his head as he entered, Daryl and Maggie close behind. He swept his beam around the room, illuminating the stacks of boxes that lined the walls.

A muffled groan came from the farthest corner of the room and he quickly turned to shine his light toward the source. On the floor sat a stocky, dark-haired man who looked to be in his forties. He held tightly to his right knee, and they couldn't help but notice that his leg sat in a very unnatural position.

"That's him!" Maggie whispered. "The guy we saw earlier."

Daryl stepped next to Abraham and trained his crossbow at the stranger. The man held up his hand to shield his eyes from the light.

"You guys here to bust my other knee?" he asked gruffly.

"That's really up to you," Abraham answered. "Why don't you go ahead and tell us who you are."

"Tom Yates," he replied. "I'd shake your hand, but I can't really stand up to reach it right now."

"You alone?" Daryl asked.

"Depends on your definition of alone," Tom responded, smirking.

Abraham stepped closer to the man and crouched in front of him. "We don't got time for your bullshit right now, Yates. You're gonna answer our questions, or my friend over there's gonna put a bolt in your head."

Tom laughed in his face. "Might as well go ahead," he said, throwing up his hands in defeat. "Can't run with my leg all jacked up. I'm pretty much dead already."

Abraham reached a hand out and placed it around the man's throat. "How 'bout this," he began, "if you're gonna keep being a smartass we'll kill ya alright, but we won't do ya the favor of shooting you in the head. We'll leave you to turn, let you spend the rest of your un-life crawlin' around as one of those nasty assholes."

Tom gulped and shifted a bit under the sergeant's grasp. "There are more of us. Not many, but they ain't here."

"You out on a run?" Maggie asked.

Tom smiled at the sound of Maggie's voice. "You're one of the ones that was in here earlier. Not the one that kicked me though," he said as he studied her in the dim light. "Trust me, I remember that one. Redhead. I tell you what, there's a thing or two I'd like to do to that girl."

Maggie gritted her teeth at the tone of the man's voice. She couldn't place what was behind it. Revenge? Lust? Either way, it made her uncomfortable.

"To answer your question," he continued, "yes, I was on a run."

Just then a gun shot rang out from the front of the store. Abraham jerked his head to look in that direction and Tom saw it as his opportunity to retaliate. He reached quickly down to his side and pulled a blade from the holster on his belt.

Maggie caught the glint of the metal in the light and lunged toward him.

"Abe, watch out!" she yelled as she launched herself toward the stranger, her elbow connecting with his face.

He screamed out in pain, but held tight to the knife. She grabbed at his hand, trying to wrestle it free from him and though he managed to slice her hand she held tight, Abraham quickly coming to her assistance and getting the knife free.

He tossed it to the side, and a moment later his fist connected with the man's face, knocking him out cold.

"Find something to tie him up," he ordered Maggie before handing her his flashlight and sprinting toward the front of the store where several more gunshots sounded.

Daryl kept his weapon pointed at Tom as Maggie found an electrical cord and bound his hands. Once he was secure they went to join the others in the store.

"Get down!" Michonne yelled when she saw them enter through the door. The two of them ducked behind the counter, only allowing the tops of their heads to show over it as they took in the situation.

Rick sat with his back against a shelf, the others in similar positions throughout the room. At the other side of the room sat two unfamiliar figures, one male and one female. The man was blonde, a leather jacket clung tightly to his large form. The woman was petite but was carrying a large rifle. She had her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Leave!" the blonde man ordered. "Just leave and we won't have to kill any of you!"

"We're here for supplies," Rick answered. "We're not leaving without them."

From where they were, Daryl and Maggie had a clear view of both groups, and Daryl crept slowly around the edge of the counter to get a straight shot at the strangers. The man stood up and raised his pistol, aiming it toward where Rick sat.

Daryl didn't hesitate. He raised his crossbow and let a bolt fly. It stuck cleanly in the temple of the man and his body slumped to the floor.

"You motherfucker!" the woman screamed, turning toward Daryl and raising her rifle. Michonne appeared, seemingly from nowhere, behind the woman and rammed the handle of her katana into her head, knocking her off balance and sending a rogue shot into the wall as her finger brushed the trigger. She tackled the woman to the ground and pounded mercilessly on her arm until she let go of the gun.

"Clear!" Michonne yelled, signaling to the others that they could reveal themselves.

The dark-headed woman struggled under Michonne, but she kept her pinned to the ground. Tilly approached her and pointed her pistol toward her head.

As he stared at her extended arm, Daryl could see blood running down it, the cloth of her jacket torn.

"You can't just go around shooting people," Tilly taunted, her finger hovering over the trigger. "That shit hurts, ya know."

"We have your man," Maggie said as she stepped forward. "Tom. He's tied up in the back there."

"Now we just have to figure out what to do with you," Rick said dryly.

"Gonna kill me like you killed Austin?" she asked, referring the blonde man who lie bleeding a few feet away. "You kill us, the rest of our group will just track you down once they find us."

"You're with a bigger group?" Tilly questioned.

"That's what I said, bitch," she spat. "Bout twenty of us, and they aren't people you want to fuck with."

"Neither are we," Rick responded, crouching down next to the woman. "We don't like to kill," he explained, "but I have zero tolerance for anyone who attacks my people."

Michonne glared down at the woman underneath of her and then leaned closer, her face only a few inches from the other woman's.

"Don't think I caught your name," Michonne hissed.

"Sara," the woman responded, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Sara," Michonne repeated, "I think you're full of shit. There isn't a bigger group out there, and no one is going to come after us if we kill you."

Sara let out a guttural yell and slammed her head into Michonne's, sending her backward. She sat up quickly and made a grab for her rifle, but Tilly squeezed her trigger. The woman fell to the ground, a trail of blood running down the side of her head.

"We need to collect what we can and get out of here," Rick said as he stood. "After all of that noise we can't risk sticking around much longer."

"What about the other guy?" Maggie asked.

"I'll take care of it," he answered, walking toward the back of the store. "You guys gather what you can and find the others. Make it quick."

No one asked any questions. Instead they scattered to do as he had ordered.

"Hey, lemme see your arm," Daryl demanded as he walked to Tilly.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Bullet went through clean."

He scowled as he helped her pull off her jacket and raised her bloody, torn sleeve to examine the wound. There was, in fact, an exit wound, so he knew she'd be fine but he couldn't help the anger boiling inside of him.

"Fucking assholes," he spat, glaring at the two bodies on the floor.

She laid a hand on his bicep and turned him back toward her. "They're dead, Daryl. I'm fine. Just help me find something to stitch it up, and maybe some pain killers. It hurts like a bitch."

He nodded and went to retrieve the things he'd need to sew her up while she explored the aisle of pain pills. She found several bottles of extra-strength ones and tossed them into her bag before popping one open and dumping two pills into her hand.

"We can find ya something a little stronger than that in here," Daryl said as he walked over to her.

Tilly shook her head. "I can't afford to get all hopped up on anything, not when we're on the road like this." She popped the pills in her mouth, chasing them with a swig of water from her bottle.

He nodded in understanding and they sat on the floor so he could take care of her arm. "This is gonna sting," he said as he opened a bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured it over the hole.

She flinched a bit as the cold liquid burned her arm, but she remained quiet.

"You good?" Daryl asked, leaning his face closer to hers.

"Just stitch it up, Dixon. The anticipation is what's killing me," she answered.

He chuckled a little as he laced the thread and readied the needle. "Alright," he began, "here goes."

Tilly had her share of stitches since the world went to Hell, but she still couldn't shake the nausea that cascaded throughout her body at the feeling of the needle sliding through her skin. She sucked in a deep breath, refusing to vomit. She knew she'd never hear the end of it if she did.

"Can you go faster?" she hissed as he slowly continued his work.

"Not if you want it done right," he answered, a smile playing on his lips as she squirmed.

She turned her head to look at him, annoyed by his amusement. "You're enjoying this way too much," she accused. "Aren't you supposed to be sympathetic to someone who's been shot?"

"Aren't you supposed to be some sort of badass?" he countered. "Sittin' there trying not to barf over a few stitches?"

"I am _not_ going to barf," she said defensively.

"Then why's your face gone all green?" he laughed.

She punched him lightly with her other hand. "It's time for you to shut up, Dixon."

He smiled and shook his head as he finished up. Then he pulled a roll of gauze from beside him and wrapped her arm tightly before pulling her sleeve back down.

"That should do it," he said standing up and shoving the remaining supplies into his bag.

He offered her his hand and pulled her up, then they went to join the others in gathering supplies.

As Tilly wandered through the pharmacy, shoving anything she thought could be useful into her bag, she noticed Maggie staring at a rack of magazines, a bandage wrapped around her injured hand.

"This all seems so silly now," the brunette sighed as Tilly walked up beside her.

"I know what you mean," she nodded. "Celebrity gossip, fashion, diet recipes, none of that is any use at the end of the world."

Maggie picked up a magazine and flipped quickly through the pages. "It sure was nice to be able to worry about those things instead than scavenging and killing tactics, though," she said, smiling.

"No shit," Tilly agreed. "You know, I once spent two hours in a drug store trying to decide what kind of mascara to buy. Today I spent ten minutes in one trying not to get hit by a bullet."

Maggie laughed and shook her head. "Didn't fare very well in that regard."

"Nah, but at least I can add 'got shot' to my list of new life experiences," Tilly quipped. "I guess that boosts my tough chick status a bit. To be honest, other than the fear of dying 24/7, I don't really mind the way things are now. It's simpler: Survive or die. I can appreciate that."

Maggie nodded and set the magazine back on the rack before leaning in close to Tilly. "So," she whispered, "you two seem to still be getting along well." She gestured toward Daryl, who was tossing boxes of bandaids into his pack.

Tilly smiled and shoved Maggie playfully. "If you're looking for juicy gossip you'll have better luck getting it out of those rag-mags than me," she laughed. "But yeah, he's great most of the time. Sometimes he's an ass, but that's just how he operates."

"He cares about you," Maggie said matter-of-factly.

Tilly shrugged. "He cares about all of us. I think he just feels more comfortable around me for some reason."

"You hens done cluckin' over there?" Daryl yelled. "It's time to load up!"

Tilly sighed and wrapped her arm through Maggie's, then the two of them made their way outside.

The others had managed to find two working vehicles. It would be tight, but they'd be able to fit the whole group and their supplies into them.

Tilly tossed a bag of M&Ms she found to Carl and a smile crossed his lips as he caught them. Rick grinned at the gesture as well and patted her on the arm in thanks. When she first joined the group, Tilly remembered being amazed at how well they could communicate without saying a word. Now, she had fallen into that as well. It was comforting to feel so close to other people, and it paid off in times of danger when talking wasn't really an option.

She climbed into the passenger seat of the dark blue SUV, Daryl sitting behind the wheel. Maggie, Glenn, Tara, Sasha and Tyreese sat in the back, supplies stuffed into the floor boards around their feet.

"Alright, kids," Tilly mused, "everyone have your seatbelts buckled? No fighting now, or Daryl will stop this car."

"Yes, mom!" Glenn yelled from the back.

"And you two," she continued, turning to point at Glenn and Maggie, "none of that funny business back there. I _will_ be doing hand checks."

The others laughed and Daryl shook his head as they finally started rolling, following the black van that held the others.

"How far out are we?" Sasha asked.

"Abraham thinks we can make it in a couple of days," Daryl answered. "Long as we don't run into any trouble."

"We _always_ run into trouble," Tara sighed.

"And we _always_ handle it," Glenn replied. "But what are we expecting to find once we get there?"

"Hopefully somewhere with walls," Tyreese answered. "I'm tired of having to sleep with one eye open all the time."

"Can't get too comfortable anywhere," Daryl said dryly. "You find somewhere safe from the geeks you're just gonna have people coming after you to take it for themselves. We can't ever stop watching our backs."

"You really don't think we'll ever find a place?" Sasha asked, disappointment in her voice.

Daryl shook his head. "Best we can hope for is somewhere to settle in for a while, same as the prison. Nothing's permanent anymore, though."

"Well, that's reassuring," Tara mumbled quietly.

"Maybe it won't be like this forever," Tilly said, trying to restore some of the morale Daryl had just shattered. "We could find somewhere to build a community, one strong enough to fight off anything that threatens it."

"You're dreamin', Tills," Daryl replied.

"Maybe," she nodded, "but you never know what the future holds. I mean, two years ago I thought I'd be living in my own place with a steady job, maybe a boyfriend by now, but instead I'm running around killing already-dead folk with you fine people. See? Anything's possible."


	20. Chapter 20

"Her mom was fucking _livid," _Tilly laughed as she recounted yet another story about her and Lana in their younger days.

"Are you serious?" Glenn asked, laughing. "A whole chicken? Like, an actual live chicken?"

Tilly nodded, "Yeah, we stole it from Mr. Parker's coop down the road. It's a good thing she found it. I'm not sure how long it would have lived in her trunk if she hadn't needed to go buy groceries that day."

Even Daryl was laughing by the end of her story. They had been driving for several hours and had taken turns telling stories about their lives pre-apocalypse. It almost made things feel normal, like they weren't on their way toward a city potentially containing millions of flesh-eating monsters.

"I remember the time I made the mistake of telling Beth I was going to cut school," Maggie began, smiling. "She was such a goody-two-shoes. Never one to rock the boat, and here I was sneaking cigarettes behind the stables. Anyway, there was this fair going on the next town over, food trucks, rides, a parade, the whole deal, and I wanted to go. I thought I could trust her, but turns out she'd gone and tattled to Daddy about it instead."

"Yeah, little sisters are a pain like that," Tyreese laughed, elbowing Sasha in the side.

"I tell you what," Maggie continued, "I've never been more shocked than when I showed up at that fair and he was waitin' at the gate. I did double chores for a month and I didn't get so much as a funnel cake out of that adventure."

"You think Beth's still out there?" Glenn asked, looking sympathetically at his wife.

"Wait," Tilly turned around to face Maggie, "was she with you guys before?"

Maggie nodded, her face solemn. "We got separated after the prison."

"She was taken," Daryl added. "I was with her, just the two of us. We were holed up in a funeral home, but it got overrun. I told her to wait outside while I took care of it and I came out just in time to see a car drive off with her inside."

"Why didn't you mention it before?" Tilly asked, her eyes wide. "I mean, we left without even looking for her."

Daryl shook his head. "I did look. There's no way we would be able to find her. No trail. She's just… gone."

"I'm sorry, Maggie," Tilly said softly.

"Maybe the people who took her were good," Sasha offered. "Maybe she's safe with another group now."

Maggie just nodded and gave Sasha a small smile, appreciating her effort to comfort her.

"Yeah," Daryl said. "I hope so."

His normally straight face had sadness written all over it. Tilly could tell he was still beating himself up for not being able to save her. That's probably why he hadn't said anything about it.

A few minutes later they stopped outside of a large brown house. The area was rural, and there were only a few other houses to be seen off in the distance. They all climbed out of the car and gathered in front of the porch while Rick and Michonne checked it out. They returned a few minutes later, each of them dragging the lifeless body of a walker out into the yard.

"Home sweet home," Glenn said, leaning on Maggie as he climbed the front steps.

"We're going to hunt," Daryl told Tilly once they had moved all of their things into the house.

"It's going to be dark _really_ soon," she observed. "You sure it's a good idea to go out there?"

"Rick says it's fine," he answered, "and we need to get some protein into everyone before we get into the city in case we have a battle ahead of us."

Tilly sighed, "We _always_ have a battle ahead of us. Alright, I'll find my bow."

She was still a little clumsy with the weapon, but was getting better with practice.

They met up a few minutes later, Daryl carrying his crossbow and a small bag of supplies Carol had packed for them just in case, and headed toward the woods.

Back at the house, the others passed around the small amount of food they had gathered in the town: some granola bars, a bag of chips and a few cans of fruit.

"I'm so tired of fruit cocktail," Carl sighed as he pushed the fruit around with his finger. "I don't even know what half the stuff in here is."

"No one does," Michonne replied, smiling. "It's one of life's many mysteries." She broke a granola bar in half and handed a piece to Carl.

"Be glad we found anything at all," Rick said. "With any luck, though, we'll have some meat when Daryl and Tilly get back."

"Do we have a plan once we get to the city?" Sasha asked, changing the subject. "I mean, we can't just drive right into it. Where do we start?"

"We'll start in the suburbs," Rosita answered. "Work our way in from there depending on what we find."

Rick nodded in agreement. "We'll only go as close to the city as we need to. I imagine we'll still be able to find plenty just outside the city and we'll be safer there."

"_Safer_," Glenn scoffed. He was still not on-board with this plan. He remembered all-too-well what it was like in Atlanta and had no desire to deal with that again, especially with his leg still not completely healed.

"Hey, I hit it!" Tilly announced triumphantly as she held up a rabbit, her arrow stuck through it's head.

"Not too bad," Daryl nodded, patting her on the back. "Now we just gotta find about ten more of those and we'll be all set."

Tilly sighed and strung the rabbit onto a rope before handing it back to Daryl, who hung it over his shoulder.

"Why didn't you say anything about Maggie's sister?" she pried as they walked.

Daryl tensed up at her question. Beth was a tough topic for him. He blamed himself for her being taken and though he knew realistically he had no way to find her, it still bothered him everyday.

"Never came up," he answered without looking at her.

"Hey," Tilly said as she grabbed his shoulder and turned him toward her. "It's not your fault, you know."

"How would you know?" he spat. "You weren't there!"

"Because I know you. I know you did everything you could to find her," she explained. "Carol told me about how you looked for Sophia even after everyone else had given up."

"Lotta good that did," he hissed. "Couldn't find her neither, not til crazy-ass Shane let all the walkers out of the barn and we found out she'd been dead the whole time."

Though outwardly he was angry, Tilly could sense the pain behind his words.

"You're too hard on yourself, Daryl," she said softly as she grabbed his hand. He tensed, but she held tight. "You're an asset, maybe the _biggest_ asset, to this group. You've saved all of our asses more times than I can count. Sometimes you _can't_ save people. It sucks. It's the absolute worst feeling in the world, but it's just how things are."

Daryl stared at his boots, unsure of how to react to her words. If they'd come from anyone else he would have blown them off, but it was somehow more comforting coming from her.

Tilly reached out and grabbed his face, bringing his eyes to meet hers. "Listen to me good, Dixon. You're extraordinary. The fact that you have lost people doesn't diminish that, and I hope someday you come to realize that."

He nodded slightly as he stared at her face, her eyes lit with passion.

"Plus," she continued, "if Beth is anything like her sister I'm sure she's just fine."

Daryl nodded. "Hope you're right."

"I'm always right," she smiled before leaning in and giving him a kiss.

The moment was cut short when the sound of a gunshot echoed amongst the trees.

"Did that come from the house?" Tilly asked, her eyes wide.

"No," he answered, pointing further into the forest, "came from that way."

Before he could stop her, she took off running toward the source.

"Fuck," he muttered, sprinting after her. "Could be dangerous, Tilly!"

"And it could be someone who needs our help!" she called back as she ran.

Soon they came upon a cabin, the light from a lantern flickering through the window.

"Where is it?" a man's voice boomed from inside. "What'd you do with my fucking knife?"

A woman screamed in response and the two slowed their pace as they crept to peek into the window.

A dark haired teenage girl laid on her back on the floor, a large man perched on top of her with a gun in her face. Another man lay bleeding on the floor beside them.

"I'll kill you like I killed that prick if you don't hand it over!" he yelled, the girl shaking her head hysterically in response. He reared his hand back and smacked her across the face.

That was enough for Daryl. He ran to the front door and damn near kicked it off the hinges as he entered, crossbow raised at the man.

"Get the fuck off of her," he demanded.

"Well, that's a cute little bow and all, but I'll have you know this bitch took something important to me and I'm just lookin' to get it back," he explained.

"You take his knife?" Tilly asked, stepping beside Daryl with her gun raised.

The girl shook her head.

"Girl says she didn't take it," Tilly said, clicking her safety off. "Seems to me the case is closed. Why don't you go ahead and get off of her now?"

The man quickly turned and fired a shot toward Daryl, causing both of them to dive out of the way as the bullet narrowly missed his head. When Daryl stood back up his heart began to race as he saw the man sitting behind Tilly, his arm wrapped around her neck and his gun stuck in her temple.

Daryl shot her a pleading look, hoping she wouldn't do anything as stupid as the last time she found herself in this situation.

"You're gonna leave," the man ordered. "You take that thieving bitch with you. This one's staying with me."

"The hell she is," Daryl barked.

"Let me rephrase," he explained, "you're going to leave with the girl or I'm going to shoot yours in her pretty little head. Got it?"

Daryl racked his brain trying to come up with a plan. With the way the stranger was positioned behind Tilly he couldn't get a clear shot without risking hitting her.

"Go, Daryl," Tilly said, that familiar look of determination in her eyes. "Take her and go."

He shook his head. "Not leaving ya, Matilda."

"Either you do it or this asshole is going to shoot me," she replied. "I'll be _fine._"

"See, she gets it," the man laughed.

The last thing she wanted to do was stay with that bastard, but she knew that wasn't her moment to escape. She needed Daryl to leave so the man would think she was helpless. That was her only chance of getting the gun out of the side of her face.

Knowing he didn't have any other options at the moment, Daryl walked slowly to the girl, never letting the man leave the sights of his crossbow, and helped her up.

"C'mon," he ordered. "We're going."

He hated it, but he knew they'd have a better chance of getting everyone out of there alive if he had backup, and he knew Tilly could take care of herself in the meantime.

Her heart sank as she watched him leave, closing the door behind him, but she remained calm. She wasn't going to let herself panic and do something stupid.

"What's the bandage on your arm?" the man barked as he stood up. "You bit?"

"Gunshot," she answered flatly.

He nodded, believing her, and crouched down in front of where she sat on the floor. "I guess if we're going to be spending all of this time together I should introduce myself," he began, a sickening smile playing on his lips. "Name's Parker. Yours?"

She begrudgingly took the hand he held out to her and shook it. "Tilly. My name's Tilly."

"Well Tilly," he said as he pulled her to her feet, "there's a few rules around here you outta know."

_Oh, great, _she thought, _this guy thinks he has power. _

"First, no touching my shit," he explained. "You saw what happened to the last bitch who did. If you want something, you ask. Second, you do what I say. You're here for my benefit. We aren't partners. We aren't equals. Got it?"

Tilly scowled at him. "That it? Those all the rules?"

"All the ones you need to know right now," he answered. "We need to hoof it on out of here. I'm not stupid enough to think your little boyfriend isn't coming back for you. You with a bigger group?"

"No," Tilly lied. "It's just us." Her eyes quickly darted around the room, looking for anything she could use to arm herself. She caught the glimmer of metal sticking out from a hand towel on the counter and immediately knew she had found the illusive missing knife.

"Good," Parker nodded. "I'll just gather my things. That bitch left her shit here, so you're welcome to whatever clothes and junk she had." He gestured to a small red backpack lying in the corner.

"Thanks," she said, giving him her best fake smile. "I'll see what's in there."

He nodded and quickly grabbed her gun and bow before leaving to go pack up his belongings in another room. Once he was out of sight, she made her move. She tip-toed as quietly as she could over to the table and grabbed the knife, stashing it down the side of her boot before bolting over to the backpack and dumping the contents onto the floor.

She began to sort through the sparse belongings: A pair of socks, a water bottle, a small length of rope, a pair of shorts, a lighter and a box of bobby pins.

"Anything good?" She jumped as the man appeared behind her.

"Just some clothes," she answered. "I was hoping for some food. We were out hunting when we found you, so I haven't had a chance to eat in a while."

Parker walked over to one of the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a tin of peanuts, tossing it to her. "Eat up," he said. "We've got some traveling ahead of us."

"Where are you headed?" she asked as she peeled the seal off of the tin.

"You mean where are _we_ headed," he corrected her. "We're headed north, DC eventually. I hear there's a settlement there."

"How can you be sure?" she asked.

Her simple question seemed to infuriate the man, and he wrapped his hand around her collar as he pulled her to his face. "That's the third rule," he hissed, his ripe breath making bile rise in her throat, "don't _ever_ doubt me. I know what I know, it's no matter to you how I know it. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," she answered as she reached down, feigning scratching her leg.

"Good," he smiled. "I think you and I are gonna get along just fi-"

He was cut short by the blade Tilly jammed into his gut.

His grip loosened, and she made an attempt to pull away, but even with blood pouring from his stomach he was fast. He grabbed her injured arm and she yelped as she swung the knife at him again, this time opening a gash on his shoulder.

Parker was hurt badly, but he still wasn't making it easy for Tilly to escape. As he tugged on her arm again, she noticed an oil lantern sitting on a chair not far from her hand. She dropped the knife and grabbed the glass light, bringing it down swiftly on his head. It shattered, the shards imbedding themselves in his face and neck.

Tilly crawled to the corner of the room where she had dumped the other girl's things and grabbed the silver zippo. She flicked it a couple of times, willing it to light. When the flame finally danced out of the lighter she flung it at the man.

Just as she had hoped, the oil that dripped from his face down to his chest caught, and in a moment he was flailing around the cabin, trying desperately to escape the flames that consumed the top half of his body.

She quickly shoved everything she could find, including his knife, into the backpack and ran out of the back door.

_I can't stay here,_ she thought as she saw that the curtains of the cabin had also caught fire. _The fire will attract every geek for miles._

She tried desperately to remember the way she and Daryl had come from, hoping to find her way back to camp, but it was nearly impossible in the dark. As the fire began to spread, she could hear familiar groans in the distance. The dead were coming. She had to move.

She ran in what she believed was the direction of the house, but as the night progressed and she got farther and farther from the burning cabin, it became apparent to her that she was lost. Very, very lost. Defeated and exhausted, she sat down on the ground, leaning against the trunk of a tree as she gazed at the night sky.

"This is bad," she whispered to herself. "Really fucking bad. Good job, Matilda."

Something rustled to her left and it only took her a moment to recognize the sound of shuffling feet on leaves. She reached instinctively to the back of her jeans before realizing she must have left both her gun and bow back at the burning cabin.

She sighed and pulled Parker's knife from her bag as she crept in the direction of the noise. The moonlight illuminated the faces of two walkers as they stepped out into the path in front of her.

She kicked the first one in the leg before jamming her blade into the skull of the other. The first one snapped at her from the ground as she pulled her knife free, then imbedded it between his eyes.

Her heart raced as she realized she needed to come up with a plan quickly. She was a sitting duck hanging out in the middle of the woods. As she looked toward the sky again, she suddenly realized what she needed to do.

_I'll head north,_ she thought. _I'll meet them in DC._

She smiled as she located the North Star, her only map, and began trudging toward what she hoped wasn't certain death.

By the time the sun began to rise Tilly had put a lot of distance between herself and her friends. She was completely drained, and knew she would need to find some food and a place to rest if she wanted to even live to see Washington.

She took a swig from her water bottle as she scoped out the area. She was no longer in the woods, but following a small country highway, trees lining both sides of it. She smiled as she noticed a large green sign in the distance. _Washington DC: 60 miles_

She was still a long way away, but it felt good to know she was headed in the right direction. She considered finding a tree to sleep in, but she knew she wasn't going to have much luck climbing with her injured arm. Her best chance was to keep walking until she found a town.

She shoved the bottle back into her pack and sighed as she willed her legs to keep pushing her forward just a little longer.

"Don't die, Tilly," she said to herself as she walked, ignoring her burning hamstrings. "You stop moving and you're going to die."

A few minutes later she stopped dead in her tracks as the sound of a car rumbled in the distance. She quickly ran to the side of the road, concealing herself behind the trees just in time to see a large black truck drive slowly into sight. They weren't just passing through, they were obviously looking for something.

The driver's head whipped side to side as they cruised, his dark, low ponytail swinging behind him.

Once they passed, Tilly was about to come out of hiding when the truck suddenly stopped. She quickly slunk back into the foliage as the door opened and the driver got out.

He was one of the largest men she had ever seen. He wore a dark leather jacket, and though he was handsome she immediately got the feeling that he was dangerous. He walked around the perimeter of the truck, sweeping his eyes around the edge of the woods.

"Everything alright, boss?" Another man climbed down from the passenger side. He was smaller than the first one, one side of his face deformed as if he had fallen into a fire. "Need me to get Lucille?"

"Don't you fucking touch Lucille," the first man, clearly the leader, boomed. "Just thought I saw something. Won't be needing her assistance right now."

The other man nodded and stepped back into the truck. "We'll find the girl," he reassured the leader. "She can't have gotten far."

"That little bitch is going to fucking pay when we do," the leader said as he too began to climb into the truck. "Knocked a whole fucking section of the fence down, let those undead fucks in so she could escape." The rest of the conversation was cut off as the both shut their doors and began to drive away.

Tilly was so focused on the men that she hadn't even heard the footsteps approaching her from behind until she felt a hand clasp over her mouth.

She spun around quickly and raised her knife. Behind her stood a pretty blond girl, no older than 18, her hands raised in surrender.

"Ain't trying to hurt you," the girl said. "Just didn't want you to scream. They might have heard."

"Are you who they're looking for?" Tilly asked, her eyes wide.

The girl nodded. "Yeah, I'm headed south, far away from those assholes. Hoping to find my friends."

"Same here," Tilly responded. "But I'm going to DC. You're welcome to come if you don't want to keep going on your own. That's where my group was headed when we got separated. They'd take you in."

The girl shook her head. "I don't know."

"Why don't we find somewhere to take shelter for a bit and you can decide later," Tilly suggested. She held out her hand for the girl to shake. "I'm Tilly, by the way."

The blond grasped her hand lightly. "Beth."


	21. Chapter 21

"Beth?" Tilly repeated. She shook her head as thoughts of the conversation she'd had with Daryl and Maggie flooded her brain. Beth wasn't an uncommon name, and there was no way Maggie's sister had made it that far north on her own.

"Something wrong?" Beth asked as she saw Tilly's face harden.

"No," Tilly shook her head, "no, everything's fine. I'm just tired. We need to get going, find somewhere to rest for a while."

The girls continued north as they searched for shelter. They followed the highway but kept behind the treeline in case the men came back.

"What happened with those guys?" Tilly asked as they walked.

"I was traded to them," Beth answered, anger in her voice. "They're like some kind of mafia. The other communities here give them supplies in exchange for their safety."

"They protect the other groups? That doesn't sound terrible."

Beth shook her head. "They don't so much protect them as agree not to kill all of them. One of the groups wasn't able to come up with enough, so they sent scouts south to find something worth giving. They found me and another girl, Claire."

"Oh god, Beth," Tilly gasped. "Did they-"

"No," she cut her off, "they didn't rape us, if that's what you're going to ask. They're sick people, but that seems to be their only rule. We were held as _wives_, which is just a nice way of saying _slaves_."

"How'd you get out?" Tilly pried.

"Claire," she said sadly. "She's the only reason I made it. She distracted the guards long enough for me to steal a van and ram it through the fence. There's no telling what they did to her after I left." Tears welled up in Beth's eyes as she continued her story. "I figured the biters coming in through the fence would keep them busy long enough for me to put some distance between us, and it did, but I ran out of gas just a few miles out. I had to ditch the car, which is probably how they knew which way I went."

"Well, you're headed in the opposite direction now, so hopefully that'll throw them off," Tilly said, attempting to comfort the girl. "There are some houses up ahead. We'll clear one and stay there for the night."

They chose a small green house as their temporary home. Two rocking chairs sat on the white-painted porch and ivy climbed up the lattice underneath the windows. If not for the peeling paint and overgrown grass it would have been quite picturesque.

Tilly went inside to sweep the rooms as Beth kept watch on the porch. To her relief, there were no walkers, or people, to be found inside.

"It's clear," she said quietly, signaling Beth to come inside.

The women made quick work of moving furniture in front of the doors and closing all of the blinds. After that they split up to search the home for supplies.

Beth took the kitchen, and as she opened the cabinets she was elated to find they weren't nearly bare. She pulled out several cans of soup, a bag of pretzels and some dried fruit and set them on the table.

Tilly managed to find a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the bathroom and two winter coats in the master bedroom. Her thin jacket wasn't doing much to keep out the chilled air, so she was grateful to find something heavier. She removed her tattered jacket and tossed it across the room before pulling on a black down puffer. She saved the other one, a thick, dark purple wool coat, for Beth.

"Thought you might need this," she said as she entered the kitchen and handed the coat to Beth.

She smiled as she slipped her arms in and buttoned it up. "It's great," she smiled. "Thanks. I found all of this." She gestured to the small feast spread across the table.

"Seems it's our lucky day," Tilly laughed as they each took a seat.

"Tell me about the group you were with," Tilly said as she dipped a spoon into her can of vegetable soup.

Beth swallowed her mouthful of pretzels before answering. "I don't even know if any of them are alive anymore," she explained. "We were attacked before I was separated. I watched this maniac chop-" She hesitated, afraid of saying it out loud. "He, uh, he killed my daddy, right in front of us."

Tilly's eyes grew wide at the familiar story. "Hershel?" she choked out. Tears welled in her eyes as she hoped against hope she was right.

"How do you-"

"Beth Greene?" Tilly whispered. "It's you, isn't it?"

Beth was speechless. "Were you with them?" she asked.

Tilly nodded. "I was. I was hunting with Daryl when I got lost."

"Oh, my god," Beth cried, nearly diving over the table to wrap Tilly in a hug. "Are they ok? Maggie? Glenn?"

"They're fine," Tilly smiled as she returned the embrace. "They all found each other. They're heading toward DC now."

Beth pulled back from Tilly and began bombarding her with a million questions about the happenings after the prison. She filled Beth in on who was still with the group. She told her about Terminus, Father Gabriel, and Abraham's group.

"Daryl searched for you," Tilly added. "He feels so guilty for losing you, but I'm sure you already knew he'd look for you."

"Of course," Beth replied. "I knew he would, I was just afraid he'd get hurt doing it. He nearly died looking for Sophia at the farm. I'm glad he's alright."

"They're going to be so happy to see you," Tilly smiled.

"What makes you so sure we'll be able to find them?" Beth asked, her face turning solemn. "It's a big city. We don't even know where to look."

"I found you, and I wasn't even trying," Tilly said with a wink.

No sooner had those words left Tilly's mouth than the roar of a vehicle came from outside. She ran to the window and peeked through the blinds. Sitting only a little down the road was the same black truck she had seen on the highway.

"Motherfucker," Tilly whispered. "It's them."

Beth joined her at the window in time to see the two men climbing out of the truck. They could just make out their muffled voices.

"We'll just do a quick sweep of these houses," the leader ordered. "You take that one, and I'll start over here."

A chill ran through Tilly as he pointed in the direction of their house.

"Go," she whispered to Beth. "Get everything you can and go out the back. Run to the woods."

Beth nodded and they began shoving their belongings and the remaining food into their packs.

Their hearts skipped a beat when they heard the door knob turning. Tilly grabbed Beth's arm and drug her toward the back door. They moved the desk they had barricaded it with as quietly as they could manage, but it seemed the man already knew they were there.

"It's alright, Bethy!" He called cheerfully as he banged his fist on the door. "I just wanna have a little chat. I'm sure that was all just a big misunderstanding, right? Open the door and we'll take you back in, no questions asked."

They both knew he was lying. Beth pulled the back door open and began to sprint as fast as she could toward the treeline. Tilly shut the door behind her, hoping he wouldn't immediately figure out the direction they'd headed, and ran after her.

When she caught up to Beth she grabbed her arm, begging her to pick up her pace. There was no time for them to rest. She knew the man would probably figure out where they went soon, so she wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.

"We have to find a car," Tilly panted as they finally stopped to catch their breath. "We can't be out here on foot when it gets dark, but we can't afford to stop and make camp anywhere yet."

They both took a minute to drink a bit of their meager water supply before continuing their hike. Soon, the edge of the woods came into sight and Beth pointed ahead of them as they stepped out into the open.

"If we can get to the top of that hill we should be able to scope out the area," she suggested.

Tilly nodded in agreement and though she was hesitant to walk out in the open it really did seem like their best option. The sun was beginning to sink low in the sky, so she knew they needed to move quickly.

They sprinted to the top and turned their backs to each other, each of them scouring the opposite direction. The area was rural, but ahead of her Tilly could make out what appeared to be a subdivision a few miles away.

"Over there," Tilly announced, Beth turning to see what she was pointing at. "There's bound to be at least one car we can use in that neighborhood."

Beth shook her head. "Place is crawling with walkers, I can see them moving from here."

"We don't have much of a choice," Tilly said, patting Beth on the shoulder. "I'd rather deal with walkers than people, anyway. At least we know what to expect from them."

They made their way down the hill and ran in the direction of the neighborhood. They didn't have time to waste walking anymore. As confident as she was in her ability to handle the geeks, Tilly didn't want to risk having to do it in the dark.

Eventually, the cluster of houses came into sight and Tilly's heart sank as she evaluated the scene. There were more corpses than she'd bargained for, at least three dozen, wandering the streets.

"Why are there so many?" she wondered aloud. "Usually in neighborhoods like this you only run into a few, mostly trapped inside their homes."

"We're close to the city," Beth reasoned. "I'm sure most of them are just wandering through."

"You have your gun, right?" Tilly asked, and Beth responded by pulling it out of the back of her jeans. "Good. I'm going to make a run for that green car. I need you to cover me. Don't shoot unless you have to."

The small compact car was the closest to them and if she could get it started Tilly knew it would be the easiest on gas.

"What if there aren't keys in it?" Beth whispered.

A smile crossed Tilly's face. "That's not an issue. If it has gas in it, I'll get it started." Surprisingly, it wasn't her electrician background that had instilled her with the ability to hotwire a car, but good ole Joseph.

_"What are we doing out here, Joe?" Tilly asked as she evaluated the decrepit houses that surrounded them. "Your mom would kill us if she knew we were in this part of town."_

_Joseph laughed. "Well, she doesn't. You ready to learn something new?" _

_The mischievous look in his dark brown eyes was unnerving, but at the same time it excited her. She had always admired Joseph's spontaneous nature. Though it had gotten both of them into trouble plenty of times he sure knew how to keep things from being boring. _

_"I guess so," she sighed. _

_He swept his head back and forth, making sure no one was watching, before tugging at the handle of a nearby car. _

_"Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude," Tilly held up her hands and stepped back a bit. "I'm not looking to become a felon before I graduate."_

_"It's fine, Tills," he reassured her as the door creaked open. "We're not taking this piece of shit, I just need to borrow it for a second. Come here."_

_She joined him at the driver's door and watched as he laid down to look under the dash. He popped a panel off from below the wheel and pulled out a cluster of wires. She watched intensely, fascinated by his work. _

_He explained the steps to her as he worked and a moment later the car came roaring to life. He got to his feet and wiped his hands together, pride washing over his face. _

_Tilly shook her head and chuckled. "That's pretty cool and all, but why exactly do I need to know this?"_

_"In case you ever need to steal a car."_

Tilly took a deep breath and looked once more over her shoulder at Beth who nodded silently and held her pistol in front of her. As quietly as she could Tilly ran toward the green car, praying to go unnoticed until she could get it started.

Unfortunately, she wasn't quite so lucky. Two nearby geeks turned and began to lumber toward her as she reached the door. She pulled her knife from her belt and dispatched them as silently as she could manage. The _thud_ of their bodies hitting the pavement was enough to draw the attention of a few geeks, but they were far enough away that she didn't have to worry about them for the moment.

"Come on, come on, come on," Beth chanted quietly as she stared at the redhead. She saw the walkers headed in her direction and hoped she would get it started quickly enough that she wouldn't need to shoot.

Tilly yanked on the door handle and thankfully it was unlocked. It swung open quickly, nearly knocking her backward, but she regained her balance and dove under the dash. She willed herself to calm down and focus on the steps Joseph had taught her.

Her hands groped around the hard plastic until she found the panel and pulled it away. She quickly sat up to check the position of the oncoming walkers, who were then only about twenty feet away, before getting to work with the wires.

She jumped as the engine came to life, but relief rushed through her. She stood just in time to be face-to-face with a short female walker, and she punched her in her rotted cheek before sticking her knife cleanly into the side of her head.

She turned toward Beth and waved for her to join her as she continued to fight off the small herd.

"They've seen us!" she called as Beth reached the street. "Just get in!"

Beth shoved a corpse out of her way, not bothering to stop and kill it, before opening the passenger door and getting inside.

When she finally had a clear path, Tilly joined her.

"Half a tank," she smiled, looking at the display panel. "That'll do." Then she floored it, running over the legs of the walker Beth had knocked down as they rolled out of the town and headed north.

The sunset painted the sky to their left as they reached the main road, and for a moment they felt like they could breathe.

"Tomorrow," Tilly said resolutely as they passed another sign signaling their approach to DC, "tomorrow, we'll find them."


	22. Chapter 22

Tyreese stood up quickly from the porch where he kept watch as he saw two figures walking toward the house. As they stepped closer he could see their faces.

"Daryl?" he called as he ran toward them, keeping his eyes on the strange girl next to him. "Where's Tilly?"

Daryl just shook his head and walked right past him toward the house. "I'll explain inside."

All eyes were on the pair as they entered, and their faces visibly dropped as they saw the girl that accompanied Daryl wasn't Tilly.

"What's going on?" Rick asked, stepping forward. "Did something happen to Tilly?"

"She's alive," Daryl answered, casting his eyes to the ground. He was ashamed to admit he had been forced to leave her behind. "We found some asshole about to kill her," he pointed to the dark-headed girl who cowered next to him. "Shit got crazy and he ended up with his gun stuck in the side of Tilly's head. Told me to take this one and he'd keep her. I couldn't get a clear shot, so I came back here for reinforcements."

"You left her?" Glenn accused, a look a disgust on his face.

"She can take care of herself!" Daryl barked as got in Glenn's face. "You think I wanted to fucking leave her there? Didn't have a choice if I wanted everyone to get out alive."

Rick stepped between the two men and gently pushed Daryl away. "Alright," the leader nodded, "we'll go back now."

Maggie, Michonne and Carl volunteered to go with them, and Carol took it upon herself to take care of the new girl while they gathered their weapons.

"What's your name, sweetie?" she asked gently as she led the girl to a couch.

"Ashton," she answered. "Ashton Marks."

"Who was the man you were with?" Carol prodded as she pulled out a rag and began to wipe the dirt and traces of blood from Ashton's face.

"My uncle," she replied, tears pooling in her eyes. "He killed my dad, and if they hadn't showed up I'd have been next. If he kills that lady it'll be all my fault."

Carol dropped the rag and pulled the girl to her chest. Ashton didn't resist and let herself lean into the embrace. "Tilly will be fine," Carol said softly as she stroked the girl's hair. "I have no doubt."

"I want to come," Glenn insisted as Maggie took inventory of her small stash of ammo. "I hate sitting around here being useless."

Maggie leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "If that leg doesn't heal up right you _will_ be useless. Stay here and rest. We're just dealing with one guy here, shouldn't be a big deal."

"Ya'll ready?" Daryl called as he pulled the front door open, chomping at the bit to get going.

The others met him in front of the house and he led them in the direction of the cabin. The only light outside was from the half-moon, but he had no trouble finding their trail. Daryl still had the rabbit Tilly killed slung over his shoulder. His mind was so preoccupied he hadn't even thought to leave it at the house.

"It's not much farther," he explained as he studied their surroundings.

"Hey, do you guys smell smoke?" Maggie asked, sniffing the air.

Rick nodded, "Yeah, I do."

The group picked up their pace in an attempt to catch up with Daryl who had broken into a jog as he approached the cabin. He froze as he reached the edge of the clearing where it sat.

Half-a-dozen walkers wandered around the place as flames licked out of the roof and windows.

"Shit," Daryl hissed, shooting a bolt into the head of a nearby corpse. He took off running around the perimeter of the building, looking for any sign of Tilly. "She ain't here," he sighed as he made his way back to the others.

"You think she did this?" Michonne asked as she casually ran her blade through the face of a walker before decapitating another.

Daryl didn't respond. He was too busy searching the edge of the woods for a trail, any sign that could tell him which direction she went.

"Anything?" Rick asked.

Daryl shook his head as he picked up a large rock and chucked it toward a geek. "Can't see a fucking thing out here." He felt a heaviness in his chest. He'd lost someone else, and he cursed himself for being stupid enough to leave her behind.

Carl, Maggie and Michonne took out the rest of the walkers as Rick approached the hunter, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," he said softly as he leaned close to his face. "This isn't your fault. We'll come back first thing in the morning. Maybe you'll be able to pick up her trail then."

"I'm not leaving her out here," Daryl hissed. "We decided to 'pick it up at first light' with Sophia and look what happened!"

"Tilly isn't Sophia," Rick responded firmly. "She can take care of herself for a night, you know that. She's probably up in a tree somewhere, or maybe even on her way back to the house."

Daryl shook his head and began to pace. "I ain't going back without finding her!" he yelled.

Rick wasn't shocked by Daryl's outburst, but he knew if he let him stay out and look there was a chance he wouldn't make it back. "We're going back, Daryl," Rick ordered. "This isn't a debate. I'm not letting you go out in the dark and get yourself killed."

"Whatever," Daryl hissed as he stomped back in the direction of the house. Rick whistled at the others and they began to follow him back to camp.

Daryl volunteered to keep watch when they returned, and Rick asked Michonne to stay with him, just incase he decided to wander off after Tilly. He hated feeling like he was being babysat, but he was glad it was Michonne he was paired with. At least she knew how to keep quiet.

They sat in comfortable silence, staring off into the night for a few hours before Michonne elbowed him gently in the arm. "Over there," she whispered, pointing down the road. Silhouetted by the moon, headed in their direction, was a crowd of the undead. He tried to count them quickly, but stopped trying when he reached twenty.

"Get the others," he whispered and she took off inside the house.

His brain was running a million miles a minute as he struggled to figure out how they were going to handle all of them. At that point, they were running on minimal ammo, not that popping off rounds in the middle of a herd was a good idea, anyway.

A moment later Rick came bounding through the door onto the porch. He studied the approaching horde for a second. "We have to go," he said quietly. "We can't handle that many."

"We can't fucking leave," Daryl insisted. "Tilly's still out there."

"I know, brother," Rick said, lying his hand on Daryl's shoulder, "but we can't risk the rest of the group. Michonne, get the others and tell them to pack up and head to the cars. We're leaving now."

Daryl kicked the railing of the porch, splintering the wood, before walking out into the yard and aiming his crossbow toward the walkers. They were still too far off for him to get an accurate shot, but he didn't care. He was filled with rage and needed to kill the undead bastards that were forcing him to leave his friend behind. He fired once, his bolt unsurprisingly missing the mark and sticking into the chest of a walker.

"Daryl!" Glenn called as the others began to file out and pile into the cars. "Daryl, we have to go!"

"Motherfucker," he spat as he lowered his crossbow and walked backward toward the awaiting SUV. He climbed in the back seat next to Carol, Ashton sitting on her other side, and slammed the door before Maggie punched the gas and they were speeding away from any hope of being reunited with Tilly.

Daryl's face was pressed against the cold window as the sun began to rise. They'd driven through the night, only stopping for a few minutes to regroup, as they continued toward DC.

With the exception of Sasha, who had taken over as driver, the others were asleep.

"You alright?" Sasha asked, knowing he was awake, but he continued to stare silently out of the window. "She knows which way we're headed," she continued despite his lack of response. "She'll find her way there."

"The hell do you know?" he answered harshly.

Sasha shook her head. She knew not to take his anger personally. "I _know _that this fucking sucks. I _know_ that you're beating yourself up over losing someone else. I also _know_ that sitting back there pouting doesn't help us a damn bit, so you need to snap out of it."

"Fuck you," he hissed.

"You know," she began, "I lost my fucking boyfriend a couple of days ago and you don't see me moping around. The difference there is your girl is still _alive_. I'll never see Bob again, so excuse me if I don't have a whole lot of sympathy. I care about Tilly, too, but there's nothing we can do right now."

_You let things get to you, you'll get yourself killed. _Tilly's words flashed in his mind, and as much as he wanted to push Sasha out of the moving car for opening her big mouth he knew she was right. He'd never admit that to her though, so he just continued to stare out of the window.

In the other vehicle, Michonne sat in the back seat next to Morgan. "Haven't heard much of anything out of you since you got here," she said to him, though being the stoic type herself she didn't have much room to judge.

"Haven't had a lot to say," he responded. "I'm still getting used to being around people again."

Michonne understood the feeling. When she first joined the group at the prison it had been a huge adjustment. "I was on my own for a long time before I met Rick," she shared. "You get used to the quiet. It's a big shift being surrounded by strangers all of a sudden."

Morgan just nodded in response and stared at the notebook he held in his lap.

"I know you know Rick, but do you remember me?" she asked. "You were a little on the cuckoo side when we last saw you."

"Yeah," he answered. "I remember. I was in a dark place, still kinda am, but my memory is fine." He was a little insulted by her question, but at the same time he was self-aware enough to understand how he probably came across.

"Rick told me about your boy," she said sadly. "I'm sorry. It's easy to lose yourself when something like that happens."

"You have kids?" he dared to ask, and the look on her face told him the answer. "You did."

Michonne nodded. "I had a son."

"I'm sorry." He was hesitant to initiate physical contact, but after a moment he reached over and patted her on the knee awkwardly.

Michonne snickered at the gesture.

"Sorry," he chuckled. "I'm still getting back into the swing of this human contact thing."

"Keep trying," she smiled. "It's like riding a bike. You'll get there eventually."

"As big of an adjustment as it is, I'm glad I found you guys," he admitted. "Rick was the first decent person I met when this went down. I'm glad to see he's not the only one left."

"Shit!" Abraham yelled from the driver's seat as their car began to sputter. "Out of gas." He slammed his fist on the steering wheel as they came to a stop.

They all got out and went around to meet with the rest of the group, who were now parked behind them on the mostly empty interstate.

"You guys out, too?" Rick asked Sasha as she slammed her door and approached him.

"Almost," she answered. "We can send a few people ahead to siphon what's left from the other cars."

"Probably won't find much," he responded, scratching his scruffy beard, "but it doesn't seem we have many options."

Michonne, Carol, Tyreese and, surprisingly, Gabriel, volunteered to look for gas while the others waited by the cars. Aside from the preacher, they quickly gathered their weapons and the two gas cans they'd managed to find at the house and set off.

Normally Daryl would have volunteered to hunt while they were stopped, but there were no woods to be seen. They'd hadn't yet reached the city, but the area was becoming much less rural the farther they went. He grabbed his bag and sat on the cool pavement, leaning against the SUV.

Rick and Abraham bent over the map they'd stretched over the hood of the car and talked quietly about the rest of their trip while the others conversed amongst themselves.

"Excuse me," an unfamiliar voice called, causing all of them to immediately jump to attention, "which one of you is the leader?"

Rick and Abraham immediately pulled their guns as they turned to see a slim, blonde man with wavy hair and friendly blue eyes approaching their small caravan.

"The fuck do you want?" Abraham barked, and the stranger raised his hands over his head.

"Whoever is calling the shots," he answered, "I'd like to speak with them."

They were all frozen to the spot, unsure of the man. He didn't immediately appear threatening, but they were stunned by his boldness.

"I'm Aaron," he continued, smiling. "I'm unarmed. I'm not here to fight, I seriously just want to talk."

"Where did you come from?" Rick asked, aiming his gun toward Aaron. "Were you watching us?"

He nodded. "Honestly, yes. I was listening just to make sure you all weren't dangerous or anything."

"What do you want from us?" Rick glared at him, searching him over in an attempt to figure out his true intentions.

"I'm here to recruit you," Aaron explained. "We have a settlement. A safe zone with nearly forty people. We'd like for you to join us."


	23. Chapter 23

Rick and Abraham exchanged a look, silently deciding what to do next. Abraham nodded slightly and Rick stepped forward and punched Aaron in the face, his unconscious body falling to the asphalt.

"Just so we're clear," Abraham stated as Rick rubbed his throbbing hand, "that wasn't a 'let's attack this guy' look, it was a 'he seems ok' look."

Rick shook his head and looked up at the sergeant. "I don't care if he didn't have weapons. I don't care if he _looked_ alone. He hasn't survived this long by himself, and people are dangerous. I see someone overly friendly like him and I think of the Governor. That guy was all smiles when we met him, then he tried to kill every last one of us." He looked back down at Aaron. "Help me tie him up."

A few minutes later, Michonne, Carol, Tyreese and Gabriel returned with both of the gas cans full.

"Who's the prisoner?" Michonne asked as she set down her canister and bent to get a better look at Aaron. "He try something?"

"No," Glenn answered. "He says he has a community nearby and wants us to join."

"That sounds familiar," Carol scoffed.

"He's waking up," Carl observed as the stranger began to sit up slowly.

Aaron groaned as he tilted his head upward to look at Rick. "Guess that makes you the leader then," he smiled. "Can I get your name?"

"My name is Rick Grimes," he answered, "and you're going to answer all of my questions, got it?"

Aaron nodded. "Like I said, I'm here to talk. We could have done this without anyone getting hurt, but I get it. It's hard to trust people out here. I don't hold it against you, Rick." He blew a strand of blonde hair out of his eyes as Rick crouched down in front of him.

"Good," Rick replied, "I appreciate that. How many people are in your group?"

"I'm not exactly sure," he answered. "Somewhere in the mid-30s, I think we're still under 40."

Rick scratched his beard, considering his response. "That many? Where are they?"

"In our community," Aaron responded, shifting a little against the rough rope wrapped around his hands. "It's just on the other side of DC, about twenty miles from here."

"So why are you here?" Rick wanted to believe Aaron, but he had no idea why anyone who had that sort of safe zone would bother leaving to talk to strange, possibly dangerous, groups.

"I guess you'd call me a recruiter," he answered. "I've been watching you all for a while, trying to figure out if you'd fit in. You seem like a nice group of people." Rick tensed a bit at the thought of not noticing they were being watched, but he continued to hear Aaron out. "I know you guys are looking for supplies. We've exhausted everything around here, but we have stockpiles of food. We have secure walls. I promise, we have room for all of you. I'm here to invite you to _audition_ for membership."

Rick shook his head, skeptical of his story. "You have a secure community and you wander around out here bringing more people in? What's in it for you?"

"There's a lot of work to be done to maintain what we have," Aaron replied. "I'm sure each of you come with a unique skill set that would enrich our community."

"Maggie!" Their conversation was interrupted by Carl yelling as he rushed toward the brunette and stuck a machete through the head of a walker that had managed to sneak up on her.

She clutched a hand to her heart as she nodded her gratitude to the teenager.

"We need to be more careful," Abraham boomed. "We can't let ourselves get so distracted we let those things sneak up on us-"

"Over there!" Gabriel yelled, pointing toward the edge of the road. A small herd was shuffling over a hill toward them.

"Get in the cars!" Rick ordered as he drew his gun from his hip. Abraham, Daryl, Michonne and Morgan flanked him as the others locked themselves in the vehicles.

"You should get in the van," Michonne whispered to Morgan.

"I can protect myself," he replied as he pulled a pistol from his belt. "Don't worry about me."

"You got a plan?" Daryl asked the leader.

"Let's see just how many walkers we're dealing with. I don't want us to panic and drive in the wrong direction if there's only ten of them."

"Help!" Aaron yelled from the ground. In the chaos the group had forgotten about his presence. "Untie me!" Two corpses shambled toward him as he screamed, and he inched backward as he struggled to free his hands and feet.

"Hold on!" Daryl yelled as he jumped over the hood of the car and lunged toward the man. The others fought against the undead as Daryl worked on the ropes. "You better not be a bad guy," he warned as he freed Aaron's hands, pausing to shoot a geek in the head. He passed his pistol to Aaron before taking off, crossbow raised, to help the others.

Their gunfire echoed throughout the area as they poured the rest of their ammo into the herd, eventually leaving every last one of them crumbled and lifeless on the ground.

"Damn," Rick sighed as he scanned over the bodies, his eyes eventually landing on the pistol-wielding Aaron. Rick quickly shot a look toward Daryl.

"Got caught up in the moment," the hunter shrugged as he walked over and took the gun from the stranger.

He handed it over willingly. "There's no reason to hang onto this thing," Aaron said cheerfully as Daryl shoved the piece back into his belt. "I trust you guys. I'm just looking for a little bit of trust in return. What do you say to my proposal?" He looked hopefully back to Rick.

"You don't miss a beat, do you?" Rick half-joked. "What's the hurry? Is there some sort of deadline for membership?"

Aaron shook his head. "It's just getting late, and it's not safe to set camp here after that shootout."

"We'll sleep in the vehicles," Rick explained, still not eager to follow Aaron. "We'll set a couple of extra people out for watch. Should be fine. You're welcome to stay with us, Aaron, and we'll discuss this in the morning."

"Fuck that," Michonne scoffed, stepping toward Aaron. "I'm going with him. He has a _community_, Rick, food. Shelter. Safety. All he asks is that we pull our weight. I know you don't want to walk right into another Woodbury. I remember that well, _trust me_, but this man is nothing like the Governor. I can tell."

"I just think-" Rick began.

Michonne held up her hand to silence him. "If we let this pass us by, then what are we even doing out here? Do we keep on wandering, starving, being miserable? Is that our goal? He is offering us _exactly_ what we've been looking for. Can't you see that?"

Rick and the others were stunned by her uncharacteristic outburst.

She shrugged as she shifted her pack on her shoulder. "I don't care about anyone else, but I'm going."

"I'm going too," Eugene announced from the window of the SUV.

"Me, too," Tyreese agreed, followed by a few others.

"We'll give it a shot," Abraham nodded, wrapping his arm around Rosita who had appeared at his side.

Rick threw his hands up in frustration. "Did you all think I was going to decide for you? We could have just waited to talk about it in the morning. We really need to think about this."

"What is there to think about?" Morgan asked. "They have food, I'm _starving_."

Rick looked to his son, who simply nodded in response.

"Alright," Rick sighed. "If that's what everyone wants we'll go first thing in the morning. Aaron can stay with us tonight. Let's get some sleep."

At first light the next morning they were off, driving toward what they hoped was sanctuary. Aaron rode in the passenger seat of the lead vehicle with Rick at the wheel.

"We should be close to the city soon," Aaron observed. "Our community is just past-"

He was cut short as Rick slammed on the breaks, flinging him into the dashboard.

"Who the fuck is that?" Rick growled as he threw the van into park and opened his door. He pointed his gun toward a man around Aaron's age with sandy hair who was leaned casually against an ATV parked on the side of the road ahead.

"Hands up!" Rick yelled, and the others joined him in aiming their weapons toward the man. "Tell everyone else to come out now or you die!" he threatened, sure that this was the trap he had suspected all along.

Aaron sprinted ahead of them and stood in front of the other man. "Stop!" he yelled. "He's alone! He's with me."

"Are you fucking insane?" Daryl screamed, lowering his crossbow. "You couldn't tell us about him before? Any more surprises we should know about?"

"This is my partner Eric," Aaron explained. "He's my insurance policy in case you all turned out to be dangerous. You knocked me out and I let it slide, please grant me the same consideration here."

Daryl huffed as he looked Eric over. "One more person steps out of the woods I'm killing everybody."

"We're a two-man operation," Aaron swore. "We move faster that way. It's easier to stay hidden. We were listening in on you guys for a while, but I always go in alone to appear less threatening."

"How'd you spy on us without us ever noticing?" Glenn asked curiously.

Eric reached toward the back of the ATV and pulled out a large directional microphone. "Sound quality isn't great," he answered, "but it gets the job done. It can pick up a conversation from a hundred yards away."

Rick nodded. "Load all of your weapons and supplies into the back of our van. You'll get them back when we arrive safely. Deal?"

"Deal," Aaron and Eric answered in unison.

The group slowly climbed back into their vehicles as Aaron helped Eric gather their things.

"No more overnight trips," Eric smiled, leaning in and pressing his lips to Aaron's. "My nerves can't handle it."

Aaron returned his smile and nodded. "I'm sorry, they just took a little more convincing than most. I couldn't rush them. These people will be great. They're tough as nails, but good at heart. We _need_ them."

A few minutes later they were rolling toward the city, and within a couple of hours they were on the highway amongst exits that lead into DC.

"Why are we stopping?" Carol asked from the back seat of the SUV as they slowed.

Sasha shrugged and put the vehicle in park before stepping out to see what was going on.

Aaron shut his door as he stared out at the distant city ahead of them.

"What's going on?" Abraham asked.

"This is as close as we're going to get to the city," he answered. "It's safer to go around, but I figured we would stop so your people could take a peek."

Hundreds of walkers snarled up at them from beneath the highway bridge where their small caravan was parked.

Rick's stomach lurched at the sheer number of undead. "You built your community near _this_?" he grilled Aaron. "That seems awfully dangerous."

"We've taken precautions," Aaron assured him. "I promise you it's safe."

A whistling noise sounded from the direction of the city and they all turned just in time to see a bright flare shooting toward the sky.

Aaron and Eric immediately jumped into action. "Those are our people," Eric explained. "We send runners into the city, but they only use the flares if they're trapped or hurt."

"Let's go," Aaron said sternly, grabbing his gun from the back of the van.

"Whoa," Rick exclaimed, "I know you need to help your men, but I'm not letting both of you our of my sight. Aaron, your partner can stay here and I'll go with you to rescue your people."

"We don't have time for this," Aaron sighed.

Rick ignored him and pulled out his python to take quick inventory of his ammo.

"Eric will stay here," Aaron announced, realizing there was no way around it. "He can move you guys if things get unsafe."

Abraham volunteered to accompany them as well, and soon the three men were slowly navigating the van through the war-torn streets of Washington DC.

"We're getting close," Aaron said.

Rick shook his head as he took in their surroundings. "Doesn't look good," he sighed. "There's too damn many of them."

"Stop the van!" Aaron yelled abruptly as he pointed ahead. "That's them!"

Abraham slammed on the breaks and Aaron was out in a flash, bolting toward two men, one lying and one sitting on the pavement in front of them.

Rick and Abraham silently posted themselves on either side of the van, keeping watch as Aaron tended to his men.

"Shit, Heath," Aaron exclaimed as he approached the men, "what happened?"

"He tried to jump across the roof top to the pharmacy, but didn't make it," a young black man with thick glasses and a ponytail explained as he pointed to the leg of the bald man who lie in agony on the ground. "He broke his leg and has been fighting passing out since." Heath looked past Aaron, momentarily distracted by the new men. "Who are they?" he asked.

"This is Rick and Abraham," he answered. "They're with me, new citizens. We were on our way back when we saw the flare."

Rick cringed as he stepped closer and got a good look at the man's injury. "That's going to get infected," he observed. "Can you really do anything to help him?"

Heath rolled his eyes as he helped Aaron lift the injured man. "We have three doctors in our community, one of them a surgeon."

"No time to chat, guys," Abraham declared as he shoved away a walker, plenty of others following behind it. "We need to get him in the van right fucking now!"

Heath and Aaron threw the man into the back of the van and quickly slammed the door.

"Abraham," Aaron ordered, "you and Heath drive the bikes back, lead the way. Rick, drive the van and I'll stay back here with Scott."

Without arguing, Abraham and Heath ran back to where the scavengers had left their small motorcycles.

"Fuck!" Rick yelled as he put the van into gear, only to be met with a wall of undead in front of him. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

He slammed on the gas, but the van only rolled forward a few feet before the soft flesh of the undead under the tires stopped it. Abraham looked back at the vehicle in desperation as he pulled out his gun and began picking off the walkers. It was no use, though, they just kept coming. They poured out of alleyways and store fronts. They came from all directions. Abraham had all but accepted his inevitable demise when the sound of an engine roared toward them, accompanied by the welcome _brakka-brakka-brakka_ of a machine gun.

A large blue pick-up truck barreled toward them, several men with large guns standing in the bed.

"Go!" one of the men yelled to the sergeant. "We'll cover you! Get out of here!"

"Holy shit, am I glad to see them," Aaron declared as Rick gently pushed down on the gas, willing the van to dislodge from the pile of bodies.

"They're with you?" he asked in disbelief as he watched Abraham and Heath speed off ahead of them. A moment later, he breathed a sigh of relief as the van began to roll forward, a path being cleared by the men in the truck.

"They're good men," Aaron assured him. "These are the guys who will be keeping you and your people safe from now on."

Rick drove as quickly as the streets allowed him past the truck and back toward the bridge where the others were waiting. The truck remained a ways behind them, making sure they made it out safely.

When they finally got back to the rest of the survivors, Carl ran to his dad as he climbed out of the van. Rick smiled and pulled his son into a hug.

"What was it like in there, Dad?" the boy asked.

"Chaos," Rick chuckled. "Same as it's ever been."

He released Carl when he heard the familiar rumble of the truck engine approaching, and turned to face them.

"I should thank those guys," he explained, "they really saved-"

He froze at what he saw in the back of the truck in front of him.

"There's no way."


End file.
